Child Online Protection Bureau to Prevent Cybercrime and Online Violence

Brief Description

In January 2016, the government of Israel established the Child Online Protection Bureau as a national integrated civilian-police authority to prevent cybercrime and online violence against minors. The Child Online Protection Bureau consists of professionals, a national hotline, and a designated police unit to fight crimes against minors on the web. It does so by raising awareness of safe internet browsing, policing the internet to increase deterrence against internet crime, creating a safe online environment with the help of volunteers, and operating a national, round-the-clock hotline. The Bureau is a joint civilian-police authority combining law enforcement with education and treatment to ensure the safety of children and teens online. Police officers and civilians from the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Social Services and the Ministry of Justice work together to keep Israel's children safe on the web. The Bureau recently established a unique national hotline that coordinates all calls and information on harm done to children online. The hotline is staffed 24/7 by police officers with special training, as well as representatives of the partner government ministries. The hotline is set up to handle calls and reports on harm, violence, and crime aimed at children and adolescents in cyberspace, categorize them, and direct them to the appropriate follow-up channels. It deals with the full range of online threats to children and adolescents, from criminal acts, such as pedophilia, virtual rape, and the distribution of sexual contents, to acts that are not necessarily criminal, but whose effect might be devastating to a young person, such as shaming, exclusion, and ostracism.