Number of NCMEC alerts processed
Fighting paedocriminality
To combat child pornography, fedpol works in coordination with the private American organisation NCMEC, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Through cooperation with private individuals and electronic service providers, the NCMEC collects millions of alerts about content that is illegal under US law. If one of these alerts concerns Switzerland, the file is sent to fedpol for analysis and processing.
| Number of suspicion alerts | Number of reports | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 7,176 | 1,399 |
| 2020 | 7,852 | 1,166 |
| 2019 | 8,028 | 693 |
| 2018 | 9,167 | 612 |
| 2017 | 5,404 | 428 |
In 2021, fedpol received 7,176 suspicion alerts from the NCMEC. After examining whether the shared content was also illegal under Swiss law, fedpol forwarded 1,399 reports to the cantonal prosecution authorities. Based on the reports, they initiated criminal proceedings to convict the perpetrators. Compared to the previous year, there was a 4% increase in alerts in 2021 that were filed as reports with the cantonal authorities. Cooperation between fedpol and the cantons has been streamlined thanks to the NEDIK network, which coordinates Swiss police cooperation.