KEY POINTS:
Somewhere in England, Australia and the United States, there are people looking at an image of a sex act between a 10-year-old and an 8-year-old boy.
At the same time, thousands of kilometres away in central Wellington, Department of Internal Affairs investigators are watching those people's computers, noting their details and passing them on to the relevant authorities.
Steve O'Brien, who manages the department's censorship compliance team, labels his job horrible and fantastic in almost the same breath. He and his team see an appalling range of revolting images on a daily basis, but they have also seen 250 New Zealanders convicted for possessing and/or distributing those pictures and videos.
Their work has a worldwide impact, with New Zealand investigators having played crucial roles in apprehending peddlers of child pornography around the world. This week, details emerged of a two-year-long operation which has seen 22 people arrested in Australia, Britain, Germany and the US.
Internal Affairs began investigating computer-based porn in 1995, with Mr O'Brien and his team becoming a dedicated unit a year later. From six staff nationally, the unit has grown to four investigators in Auckland, four in Wellington and three in Christchurch.
As well as tracking cyber predators, investigators frequently visit schools to warn staff and pupils about the dangers the internet poses. Once hired, no investigators have ever left the job, testament to their dedication, Mr O'Brien said.
"Most of the staff have young families. When I first started that was very, very hard, because I found I was getting over-protective: if my son was going on camp I wanted to know a hell of a lot more details than the average parent. I think that's a trend in general society today as well."
Investigators tend to have a police or customs background, and are highly skilled computer programmers: software the team has developed is used by investigators worldwide. They also have to be robust mentally to cope with regularly dealing with images which would leave most people deeply disturbed.
"We are all under a psychological supervision scheme, we have sessions on the couch on quite a regular basis," Mr O'Brien said.
"We look after ourselves within the group, ensuring anyone who has got a major file to look at, we often swap that on a rotation basis so no one works on it for too long a period."
Worried parents may be reassured to learn he believes the unit is dealing with most of New Zealand's offenders, and is readily able to track them.
"Going on to the internet, you're going into a public arena," Mr O'Brien said.
"In so doing, you put your head up to get knocked off, and that's what we do. They can stay within closed communities, but in doing so they limit the amount of distribution they can do. They are always craving new material, to get new material they have to put their heads up."
