Every Image is a Crime Scene: NCMEC's fight to protect children online

It’s 2002, and inside a tiny office at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), two women were on a mission – determined to help identify and rescue young children being sexually abused in horrific images and videos circulating on the internet.

The images and videos were reported to NCMEC through our CyberTipline or sent to us by law enforcement who seized them during investigations. These child victims could be anywhere in the world. Undaunted, Michelle DeLaune, a supervisor in the Exploited Children Division (ECD), and Jen Newman, an analyst in ECD, set out to find them.

A U.S. postal inspector was part of their team of three who would retrieve the images from law enforcement and maintain the chain of custody “badge to badge.” Then Michelle and Jen would carefully study the images and videos, searching for any clues that might lead them to the child victims and their abusers.

If there was audio, and a local radio or TV station had been left on, Michelle and Jen would listen for their call letters. Through an open window, they might see a recognizable park statue, building or gazebo. There could be a school uniform slung on a chair, a Brownie uniform with a troop number on the sleeve or a T-shirt emblazoned with the name of a sports team. Anything that might help them identify the location.

“We learned to study the background in these images like crime-scene photos,” said Jen. “All of a sudden, this case goes from ‘This child could be anywhere on planet Earth’ to being narrowed down to a specific location. We would come to work hoping today’s the day we’re going to figure out where that child is.”

Within a few months, they helped investigators track down locations of multiple child victims. Through Michelle’s strategic vision, those early efforts in 2002 evolved over the next few years into the Child Victim Identification Program (CVIP). It was one of the first formalized units of its kind in the world, and in the past five years, it has referred more than 20,300 cases of potential new unidentified victims to law enforcement in more than 100 countries. 

CVIP's logo.

Today, NCMEC’s CVIP team has grown to 30 analysts, and reviews as many as two million images and videos depicting child sexual abuse each week. Analysts have watched some of these unidentified child victims literally grow up on their computer screens.

“Two decades ago, neither Jen nor I ever could have imagined how many children would be removed from sexually abusive situations because of our new program,” said Michelle. “Many talented people have joined CVIP over the years and each one of them has helped evolve and advance our victim identification efforts. There is no greater purpose than being able to help a child who is unable to help themselves.”   

In the infancy of the program, Michelle kept notes in a stenographer’s spiral notebook. Information was recorded about cases where child victims were identified that helped prosecutors prove in court that these children were real, not computer-generated. It also helped NCMEC prioritize cases where a child was likely still in an abusive situation. That notebook became NCMEC’s first “database” of information regarding child sexual abuse victims that had been identified by law enforcement around the globe.

Michelle DeLaune at NCMEC headquarters with the notebook that became NCMEC’s first database more than two decades ago. (Photo credit: Sarah Baker)

Today, more than two decades later, Michelle is NCMEC’s president and CEO, and the non-profit organization has grown into the largest and most influential child safety organization in the country. NCMEC is now based in a state-of-the-art headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia.  Jen spearheads our efforts to combat child sexual exploitation as the executive director in ECD and leads NCMEC’s Texas regional office.

“The impact that Michelle’s vision has had on the world through this program is profound,” said Shelley Allwang, who oversees CVIP. “Prior to 2002, there was more attention placed on locating offenders than on identifying who the children in the pictures were. By starting CVIP, the focus of these investigations shifted to prioritizing the rescue and safeguarding of child victims, which set the stage for the global efforts we see today.”

CVIP is needed now more than ever. Last year alone, NCMEC’s CyberTipline received more than 36 million reports, nearly all of suspected child sexual abuse material. Right now, NCMEC analysts are searching for more than 37,700 unidentified children depicted in sexually exploitative imagery, with 7,500 children added to that list in 2024 so far. Millions of these images and videos are shared and traded on the internet by like-minded individuals who derive pleasure from watching children being sexually abused and exploited.

Most of the children in these images and videos are being abused by someone they know – a parent, relative, neighbor, family friend, mentor, babysitter or coach. The sexual abuse, including rape, typically occurs in a private home where the abuse is captured on film, then shared online. 

Jen Newman is now an executive director in ECD and leads NCMEC’s Texas regional office. (Photo credit: NCMEC)

Not everyone can do this job. Above all, Jen says, an analyst needs to not only care deeply about children but possess two important qualities: curiosity and tenacity. Even the smallest detail can lead to an identification.

“Oh, that store’s bag in the background – why is that bag green? They’re usually blue,” said Jen. “Or there’s a receipt with stripes. Does that mean anything? ‘Yes,’ a retailer says, ‘It’s in one of these specific stores.’” For years, NCMEC has been working with retailers so they understand why analysts may be calling them with questions to verify odd details that can help with an identification.

The internet has no geographic boundaries, so when NCMEC’s partners around the world began forming their own victim identification teams, they built a tight-knit global network to help one another and rejoice together when a child is rescued, just as we do at NCMEC. 

Over the years, technology has helped reduce the amount of content NCMEC staff has to review. Hash values – known as digital fingerprints – are used to determine the children who have already been identified and rescued. One of our partners, Videntifier, has provided software that helps determine which videos may be new to the CVIP team and require deeper analysis.

Looking at these images day after day can take an emotional toll, and NCMEC ensures that the mental health of its employees doing this work is a top priority. CVIP analysts at NCMEC are required to see a mental health professional twice a year through our Safeguard program and can make an appointment any time they wish. As they look for clues in an image, they often feel an enormous sense of responsibility for the child on their computer screen.

They’re often asked how they can do the job. “How can I not?” said one long-time CVIP analyst.

“We may be the only good folks looking at these images and videos, and we need to try to find that child,” said Jen. “I’ve always said it’s a blessing and a gift, not a curse, to be able to do this job.”

To learn more about the impact of CVIP and other NCMEC programs, please visit: https://www.missingkids.org/ourwork/impact.