Since the beginning of 2024, twenty-four complaints and one arrest have been recorded in Tuscany for crimes related to pedophilia and child pornography. The data was released by the regional operations center for cyber security of the postal police.
From January to April, the following were reported: twelve cases of possession and dissemination of child pornography, the perpetrators of which were identified and reported to the judicial authorities, one is under arrest; twenty-one cases of online solicitation, with nine reported; three cases of sexual extortion against minors between 13 and 17 years old, with one person reported; two cases of revenge porn with victims between 14 and 17 years old, here too the perpetrators were reported.
In 2023, however, the following were recorded: forty-two cases of possession and dissemination of child pornography, with those responsible reported, three of them are under arrest; eighteen cases of online solicitation, one reported; two complaints of technologically mediated sexual violence against minors under the age of 14; a case of sexual acts with minors under the age of 14, with the perpetrator identified; fourteen cases of sexual extortion against minors between 14 and 17 years old.
Five people were reported to the postal police last year for cyberbullying, following which six minors were identified as responsible and reported to the prosecutor’s office of the juvenile court of Florence.
Hundreds of thousands of child pornography files (images and videos) have been seized in the past twelve months, with over 200 sites monitored, 50 of which have been blacklisted.
The prevention activity is carried out daily by the postal police for Tuscany during meetings with students of all levels, within schools or during the itinerant training campaign “A social life”, of which seven stages involved the Tuscan territory in 2023. As many as 340 awareness meetings were organized in which twenty thousand students, three thousand parents and two thousand five hundred students participated.
Advice from the Postal Police for parents and children
Avoid publishing photos of your children and any other useful information on social media about their habits, the sports they play, their hobbies, the school they attend; Set your social profiles in “private” mode, allowing access to the contents you publish only to the list of “friends” whose identity you are certain of; Install antivirus and firewall on the devices used by you and your children and always keep the programs updated to guarantee the protection of the devices; Try to keep up to date on the apps most used by young people, on the social networks they prefer and on new online trends; activate parental control on your children’s devices and in any case avoid giving smartphones to young children; always check the minimum age required by the various social and instant messaging platforms before allowing your children to create their own profile; try to establish a maximum time for using internet connections straight away, later it will be more difficult to set limits; However, try to participate too, expressing your interest in the contents that fascinate them most, so as to share the use of the Internet as much as possible, providing useful suggestions and advice to your children; If your children were victims of an online crime, try to show empathy, not judge them. Help and availability will help make them open up and feel understood and safe, preventing them from acting on impulse. Offer your support and contact the Postal Police together; the portal managed by the postal police provides information, advice and useful updates on the most recurring phenomena and how to protect yourself. It allows you to send, even anonymously, requests for help or simple information support; report all cases to the postal police here www.comissariatodips.it; set your profiles in “private” mode and use effective and always different access passwords; never accept “friend” requests from people whose identity you are not absolutely certain of. Often, behind photos of peers hide false identities of adults, who try to gain your trust with various types of gimmicks, to then blackmail you and put you in difficulty; avoid sharing personal information, which could allow any malicious person to know what you do and the places you usually frequent; avoid sharing personal, intimate or sexually explicit images, even in the context of an emotional relationship. Remember that, once placed online, multimedia contents are no longer controllable and often quickly become viral; in the event that inappropriate photos and videos involving you have been published online, ask the platform concerned to remove the compromising content. If you have difficulties, contact the Postal Police for the necessary support; remember that, beyond the screen, there are real people, kids like you and that words can be very painful if used inappropriately. Therefore, try to behave when using the Internet as you would in the real world: respect for others, empathy and good manners are absolutely fundamental. You can report offensive or inappropriate content to the postal police via the website www.comissariatodips.it. Individual platforms also offer the possibility of directly reporting the contents to be removed; be very careful when using online gaming platforms: they are an “environment” often used by adults to lure minors and then involve them in activities of exchanging intimate or sexually explicit material; If someone talks to you about sex unintentionally, threatens you or makes you feel uncomfortable, talk to your parents, teachers or caregivers. You can also contact the postal police via the website www.comissariatodips.it; never agree to meet people you meet on the Internet without first notifying your parents or a reference adult; if you become aware of crimes committed against minors, do not remain indifferent and report it to a relevant adult; if you are the victim of an online crime, remember to preserve possible evidence: do not delete the messages, images or videos and do not close the social profiles on which you were contacted before providing this information to the police (take screen shots of the conversations and the profile identifying URL); if you are a victim of sextortion, don’t pay. Stop contact with the blackmailer immediately and do not react to the messages; if you use file sharing circuits to share music, films or anything else, always check the material you receive. Some files may be illegal. If you come across suspicious material, notify your parents immediately and consider together whether to report it to the police; make a report to the police immediately: timeliness in these cases is essential for investigations; anyone over 14 can file a complaint, even independently, at any police office. Before this age, it is still possible to do it with your parents; remember that anyone who contributes to spreading sexual and violent images involving minors is committing a crime: report it to the postal police via the website www.comissariatodips.it.
