"I'll hazard I can do more damage on my laptop, sitting in my pyjamas before my first cup of Earl Grey than you can do in a year in the field." ― Q, to James Bond

The names Q, just Q. Admittedly it doesn’t have the same ring to it, but why isn’t Q the face of the globally recognized ‘James Bond’ movie series? Why does Mr. Bond get all the glory? It’s no surprise that the ones who physically catch the bad guys (or let the sharks get them in Bond terms) often take the acclaim and it can be said that rings true within Law Enforcement.

This is something that self-proclaimed ‘NerdCop’ and former Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Commander, Technology Ambassador and Policy Advocate, Debbie Garner, detailed during a sit-down conversation with Cyacomb’s Jeffrey Bell. Debbie is also a founding member of Raven, a team of subject matter experts in child protection, policy and research through the United States. As their mission statement attests “Raven exists to transform our nation’s response to child exploitation”. Describing herself as “a NerdCop wrestling promoter”, Debbie has always sought to champion the dedicated and talented officers working in technology related investigations, or for the purposes of this blog post, she has always sought to champion the Qs of the world.

“We had a morale issue in that the people who work technology related investigations don't always get the respect they deserve from other law enforcement officers as well as the public, the media and politicians.”

- Debbie Garner

The idea that those who work technology related investigations haven’t always got the respect they deserve is something worth exploring. Whether that be respect from within their own organisation, the public, media or at government level, we’ll address what impact this has across the board.

With the expansion of technology, it has become easier than ever to access the internet. Online child exploitation has increased year on year and shows no signs of slowing. New forms of abuse such as AI-generated material, sexual extortion and “self-generated” child sexual abuse material add further complexity to this monumental challenge.

• 35.9 million reports of suspected child sexual abuse material in 2023 (NCMEC)
• 360% increase in ‘self-generated’ sexual imagery of 7-10 years olds from 2020-2022 and up a further 65% from 2022-2023 (IWF)

If we take the increase in this crime type and start looking at statistics such as those listed above, it’s clear to see that online crimes against children have become a pandemic. Are governments giving this crime type the ‘respect’ or support to keep pace with the challenge those working in the field face? It’s easy to suggest that the answer to that question should be ‘no’. Number 1 on Raven’s list of priorities claims that funding and resources for “Internet Crimes Against Children” programs have stayed the same since 2008 (Raven). John Pizzuro, CEO at Raven further explained funding challenges in a recent LinkedIn post.

This lack of funding and resources has many consequences. A major concern for those working on technology related investigations is burnout in it’s many forms. It’s clear to see that resources available do not match the level of crime and that obviously has a detrimental impact on dedicated investigators. Debbie spoke to Jeff about burnout and explained that one of the main types of burnout out there is that a dedicated and purpose driven community of specialists who know they can help save children and find more offenders but also know they simply cannot get to every case. That helpless feeling of fighting a losing battle and not being able to do your duty is a common reason for burnout. As a team made up of many ex-law enforcement personnel, Cyacomb knows this all too well and it’s one of the main reason our technology was created. We want to ease some of those pain points we see around case backlogs, device backlogs and lack of resources and free up the experts to carry out their duties and safeguard citizens.

The need for champions has never been more urgent. It’s vital that organizations such as Raven exist to “help those who help our children”. As a group of policy experts they work with lawmakers, advocates, agencies and organizations to challenge the status quo and make sure those working in this field get the respect, support and funding they need to protect some of the most vulnerable in society. Debbie explained Ravens formation and their mission when she spoke to Cyacomb’s Jeff Bell:

We all know there is no James Bond without Q and vice versa. At the end of the day, we all want to stop Goldfinger, Scaramanga and co. However, we do think it’s time that all the Qs out there got the respect they deserve. In a world where almost all investigations contain a digital element and with one of society's most heinous crime type on the rise, we’re lucky to have people like Debbie championing and supporting the dedicated professionals fighting online child sexual abuse. The world needs to hear about Qs talents and their successes and the more we celebrate our Qs, the more we encourage our lawmakers and governments to enable them to do their jobs to the best of their ability.