Bermuda could become a regional leader in protecting children from sex abuse, a top police officer said yesterday.

Robert Shilling, coordinator for crimes against children with international police agency Interpol, added that a major conference on child protection to be held in Bermuda later this year could help the Island crack down on sex abuse of children and internet-based child sex pornography.

Mr Shilling, a former Seattle detective with more than 40 years experience of policing, said: “It doesn’t make any difference what country it is — in every single country in the world there is child abuse going on, much of it unreported because children are often too scared to report it.”

But he added that police forces across the globe had improved their handling of child sex abuse cases and now victims were more likely to come forward.

Mr Shilling, who has been on the Island for several days doing ground work for the October Caribbean and South America area conference and talking to various groups about his work, said: “Just since I’ve been here, I’ve done a couple of talks — people have heard my message, taken me aside and said ‘I was a victim of child abuse as well.’

Bermuda Police Inspector Mark Clarke added: “It’s important for Bermuda to host this conference because we have the ability to be leaders and take care of our partners in the Caribbean and South America.”

And he said that Bermuda child protection laws had also been examined by Caribbean nations with a view to introducing similar legislation.

Mr Shilling said that the October conference — the International Specialist Group on Crimes against Children — was expected to attract as many as 300 professionals in the field from up to 60 countries and that it was the first time it had been held in the region.

Insp Clarke said: “It’s also an opportunity to meet like-minded world leaders in that field and open up relationships in that field.”

He explained the explosion in the growth of internet-capable cellphones had led to an increase in their use for vile child sex images and that a regional effort was needed to tackle the problem.

He said: “It’s not a big problem in Bermuda in the sense of scale, but it’s a problem — if it happens to one child, it’s a problem.

“Exploring the partnerships we have can help us to increase child protection — that’s the important thing. One person at a time, we can protect people.

“And if we can develop the relationships with the Caribbean, we can further protect children.

“The cycle of abuse is probably the most hidden crime today and we can see the effects of it in some of the problems we have in society today.”

Mr Shilling added that many people were unaware that most sex crimes — 93 percent — were committed by predators who knew their victims.

Insp Clarke said: “You just have to look at the convictions, or people placed before the courts, in the last two years. In almost every instance, it’s someone known to the victim — a friend, a group leader or a relative. It’s very seldom it’s been a stranger.

“Child sex abuse is not something which is perpetrated by strangers or led by strangers. That’s the message.”

Mr Shilling noted that Interpol, which was set up 1923 and now has 190 nations signed up, was headquartered in Lyon, France and acted as a central point to connect police forces around the world and help with cross-border investigations.

He said: “If Bermuda needed to get to the right person in, say, South Korea, we have the contacts to be able to do that across secure lines so intelligence information is handled properly.”

And he added that Interpol also maintains the International Child Exploitation Database, which logged child abuse images and that often member countries were able to help police in the investigating countries to identify locations.

Mr Shilling said that Bermuda Police investigating a complaint about child pornography images on the Island could use the Interpol database to see if anyone had been convicted for the offence elsewhere, saving time and work.

And he added: “The other benefit is it is not only keeping down duplication of effort but it puts the eyes of 190 countries on the images that are going on there. If something has come from this region, people will recognise clues that people on the other side of the world wouldn’t recognise.”