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The government agenda
ground, and the available capacity for investigation was primarily being used to eliminate the number
of pending cases. 94
PVAKP1 came to an end, and the programme team proposed re-launching the programme as PVAKP2.
In March 2011, the Minister for Security and Justice gave a positive decision on this proposal, after which
the re-launch was implemented. 95 However, it emerged from the aims of the Task Force, amongst other
things, that this alone would not be sufficient in order to bring about the desired shift in focus. The Public
Prosecution Service and the police are drawing up a proposal for a national structure and direction in
order to effectively tackle child pornography. 96
The Korpsmonitor
The Programme of Improvements in Tackling <strong>Child</strong> <strong>Pornography</strong> was assigned the task of monitoring
the progress made amongst the regional police forces 97 in the efforts to tackle child pornography. In
2008, a survey was carried out, the Korpsmonitor Kinderporno [Police Corps Monitor on <strong>Child</strong> <strong>Pornography</strong>].
This involved a baseline measurement. The conclusions formulated included the following: the formation
of structural (supra) regional co-operation was promising; the continually increasing number of
pending cases was taking its toll on the capacity of almost all police forces to carry out digital investigations,
and it appeared to be effective to include digital investigators as staff in sex offence departments
on a structural basis. A number of bottlenecks were also identified. First of all, the organisation of efforts
to combat child pornography within the police forces had become fragmented. In addition to this, the
police were faced with a constant flow of work. Shifting the priority from tackling the ‘simple’ possession
of child abuse material to tackling its production had proved to be a complicated process.
The Korpsmonitor Kinderporno indicated that the issue of tackling child pornography involves combating a
wide-ranging social problem that does not only concern judicial matters. The effectiveness of the work
carried out by the police could be increased by involving more organisations in the efforts to tackle this
offense. Rotterdam Rijnmond was provided as an example, where work is carried in collaboration with
the Regional Institute for Outpatient Mental Healthcare, the Municipal Health Service, Social Services,
the crisis centre, Probation and After-care Services, women’s shelters, the Support Centre Geweld achter
de voordeur [Violence behind closed doors], the Salvation Army, Young People’s Information Point, <strong>Child</strong>
Care and Protection Agency, <strong>Child</strong> Abuse Counselling and Reporting Centres, Youth Care Agency, Victim
Support, Kinder- en jongerenrechtswinkel [Legal Advice Centre for <strong>Child</strong>ren and Young People], Citizens
Advice Bureaus, Prostitutie Maatschappelijk Werk [Social Work for Prostitutes], JOS(S) lawyers (lawyers from
Juridische Opvang Slachtoffers Seksueel Geweld [Legal Support for Victims of Sexual Violence]) and the Hotline
Combating <strong>Child</strong> <strong>Pornography</strong> on the Internet]. 98
In the spring of 2011, the second Korpsmonitor Kinderporno Police Forces State of Affairs 2010 was published.
99 One intention of the measures to tackle child pornography, namely shifting the focus from
94 Parliamentary Papers II 2010/11, 32 500 VI, no.86. See also §3.4.
95 Programme of Improvements in Tackling <strong>Child</strong> <strong>Pornography</strong>, 2011.
96 Parliamentary Papers II 2010/11, 32 500 VI, no.86. See also §3.4.
97 Programme of Improvements in Tackling <strong>Child</strong> <strong>Pornography</strong>, 2009.
98 Programme of Improvements in Tackling <strong>Child</strong> <strong>Pornography</strong>, 2009.
99 Programme of Improvements in Tackling <strong>Child</strong> <strong>Pornography</strong>, 2011.
105