PPA-PPO Directorate urges government to build facial recognition database for children

The Directorate of Crimes Against Women and Children and Human Trafficking (PPA-PPO) of the Indonesian National Police’s Criminal Investigation Agency (Bareskrim) is urging the government to build a child database based on facial recognition to accelerate the handling and prevention of crimes against children.

Head of the Operational Development Subdivision of the PPA-PPO Directorate, AKBP Ema Rahmawati, said during a podcast in Jakarta on Monday that such a database would make it easier for authorities to identify and locate children who are victims of crime, particularly online sexual exploitation.

“As soon as we receive information, we analyse it. However, we often cannot follow up because we do not know where the child suspected of being a victim is located. We do not yet have facial-based data on Indonesian children,” she said.

According to her, many reports only show a child’s face in the form of a photo or video, making it difficult for investigators to identify the victim’s identity or location. She noted that tracking adults can be done through population data, whereas children who do not yet have identity cards lack a similar database to support the identification process.

“We want to know where the child is so we can immediately reach their parents and provide understanding if their child is suspected of being a victim of sexual exploitation,” she said.

Ema stated that most children become victims of sexual exploitation because they lack an understanding of the risks in the digital space. Perpetrators generally lure victims with the promise of money or assistance with daily needs through online shopping platforms.

“These incidents are very widespread. So these issues of sexual violence and online sexual exploitation are huge,” she said.

In addition to pushing for the creation of a facial recognition database for children, the PPA-PPO Directorate is also proposing the formation of a special task force to handle online child sexual exploitation. According to Ema, several ASEAN countries, such as Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia, already have dedicated task forces that handle such crimes in an integrated manner.

“We once conducted a best practice study in Australia; they have a special building dedicated to handling child sexual exploitation. So within that task force, services are integrated, involving multiple stakeholders, according to their respective authorities, who does what,” she said.

Through such a task force, she said, reports can be immediately executed and processed. Once the location of the incident is known, the task force directly coordinates with the state police to conduct outreach.

“With a task force, case handling can be accelerated, including efforts to rescue victims,” Ema said.