A Royal Gibraltar Police officer has just returned from an international child protection workshop that focussed on tools to fight the sexual abuse and exploitation of children. 

Detective Inspector Cavallo Soane joined officers from police forces worldwide for the Aluna Project at the Complutense University in Madrid this week.

The three day event also brought together a range of experts to help officers prevent, investigate and help victims of child sex abuse and exploitation. 

DI Soane’s attendance was funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. He also spoke at the workshop to share his expertise as head of the RGP’s Public Protection Unit.

He said: “Safeguarding children in the digital age requires a multi-faceted approach, and the Aluna Project’s work is crucial in addressing this growing challenge. By focusing on the three pillars of prevention, investigation and victim assistance, we can equip children and their communities with the knowledge and tools to navigate online spaces safely, hold perpetrators accountable and create environments where children can thrive. This work is not just a priority; it is a necessity for their safety and our collective future.”

Luis Javier García Villalba, the Aluna’s Project Coordinator and Head of the Group of Analysis, Security and Systems at the Department of Software Engineering and Artificial Intelligence at the Complutense University of Madrid, added: “We carried out this pilot to allow future users of the affiliated and invited law enforcement agencies to become familiar with the developed tools and to test them, together with the professionals who developed them. This allowed validating the relevance of the developed tools and laying the foundations that will mark their evolution in the near future.”

Other police forces who attended the conference included London’s Met Police, the Policía Nacional, the Guardia Civil and officers from French, Thai, Israeli, Greek, Brazilian and Moldovan police forces.

The Aluna Project also combines the expertise of psychologists, sociologists, lawyers, social workers, health workers, computer developers and experts in computer security and forensics, from all over the world with one goal: to fight and helps victims of sexual abuse.

More information is available at www.aluna-isf.eu