Publications

Operation Auxin : the Australian response to online child exploitation

Tony Krone

Published in
Gazette
67(3) 2005
ISSN 0826-9556
Ottawa: Royal Canadian Mounted Police 2005.

Abstract

In March 2004, The Australian High Tech Crime Centre (AHTCC) received a referral from Operation Falcon, an American investigation into online child pornography. The AHTCC followed up the referral of 1,700 credit-card transactions and determined that 708 Australians could be identified and located across all states. Federal and state police agreed that a national day of action was necessary to prevent offenders being tipped off, and aimed to execute as many search warrants as possible at the same time. Police executed more than 400 search warrants and made more than 150 arrests. Changes in national laws have since made the charging process more efficient and imposed stricter penalties. Operation Auxin was a success based on national co-operation.