BOOK REVIEW APRIL 27, 2007
A passionate voice speaks out for porn's youngest victims

ONE CHILD AT A TIME
The Global Fight to Rescue Children From Online Predators
By Julian Sher
Random House Canada,

327 pages, $34.95

If you were told that there was a book about a subject that is so shocking and disturbing that even a hardened true-crime reader would wince -- would you be intrigued? If you knew that this disturbing subject had a global presence and that this book would help you understand it -- would you be compelled to buy it? What if you were told that by understanding it, you could make a difference, prevent a crime or even save a life -- would you read it?

In One Child at a Time: The Global Fight to Rescue Children From Online Predators, Julian Sher does a superb job of attacking the almost unbearable subject of child sexual abuse, by giving a voice to the victims and investigators who can't turn a blind eye, either by choice or conscience.

From the beginning, this book charges at you by describing the horrific story of a six-year-old girl, caged, sexually abused and tortured at the hands of her father, who traded pictures and home-made movies capturing her pain to a community of pedophiles hiding within the Internet. But this is not the only stomach-turning case described. In fact, there are many.

Wait.

Before you decide that the subject of child abuse is too upsetting, the descriptions and personal commentaries from the investigators who broke open these cases serve an important purpose.

They make it real. Each image described was created from a child being abused, and Sher bravely argues the importance of accepting child pornography for what it is: images of child abuse. And with the assistance of the Internet, trading, selling and making child-abuse images has never been easier.

The statistics speak for themselves. In 1999, one of the first major, multi-jurisdictional investigations of online child-abuse images began, operationally named Landslide. The target was an online one-stop-shop of all things porn, run by Thomas and Janice Reedy, a husband-and-wife team from Dallas, Tex.

It was discovered that over the course of only two years, the Reedys processed more than 300,000 credit-card transactions from 60 countries, with sales estimated at more than $9-million. The sale of child-abuse images is big business. But the scope of that investigation was bigger than anyone expected.

Sher makes it clear that child abuse online is a global dilemma. Police investigators, burdened with low-tech equipment and limited resources, quickly found it necessary to bring law enforcement, government and the private sector together if they were to ever move from defence to offence.

But Landslide was just the beginning, and Sher's award-winning investigative-journalistic talent really pays off as he continues to take the reader further into the world of online predators and inside cases from Toronto's Child Exploitation Unit, to Scotland Yard, to the FBI and U.S. Postal Investigators, all of whom work tirelessly at the almost insurmountable task of making sense of the thousands of images of children needing to be rescued.

The hunt for online child-abuse victims requires a new kind of police tactic. It is a backward attack: starting with crime and then looking at the crime scene for clues, with the first purpose of rescuing the victim. The war against online child pornography takes unique investigators, ones willing to push the envelope, to take risks and to be as creative as they are passionate.

Sher devotes a respectful amount of time to the investigators who have dedicated their lives to rescuing children. In Canada, he focuses on the famed Toronto Child Exploitation Unit that was once headed by Paul Gillespie, a former detective sergeant who became a media celebrity when he wrote to Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, asking for help. He knew that in order to catch up, his team of investigators needed help from the private sector, and Gates was eager to assist.

Three years and more than $7-million later, Microsoft created CETS (Child Exploitation Tracking System), an online database where police across the globe can share specific case information in hopes of making a rescue.

Is CETS successful? The statistics show promise. To date, Microsoft calculates that CETS has contributed to 64 arrests and the identification of 43 victims worldwide.

But CETS is only one initiative in the global fight to rescue children. It is reassuring to read about Jim Gamble, an imposing police officer in Britain who realized his dream by creating the Child Exploitation Online Protection Centre, a British central agency dedicated to fighting child abuse. But his dream doesn't end there.

Did you know that there are virtual global cops who patrol the Internet 24/7? The Virtual Global Taskforce (VGT) is made up of British, Australian, U.S. and Canadian cops, scattered across the globe, who are online to help protect children and conduct undercover operations. VGT is just one of the many ways cited by Sher to illustrate how the police are fighting back.

As a child-safety advocate, former police officer and mother of two, I have been fighting to protect children for almost two decades. Since the Internet has woven itself into society, I can't remember a time when the future felt so uncertain and when law enforcement was falling so far behind. One Child at a Time: The Global Fight to Rescue Children From Online Predators gives readers hope, a renewed sense of direction and purpose.

After turning the last page of this book, I am certain you will agree that, with constant education and clear communication, we can win the fight to protect children from predators, and to rescue those held captive.

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Samantha Wilson is a B.C.-based family- and child-safety expert, and the founder and president of Kidproof Canada.