A pioneering American policeman has uncovered at least 162 computers in Bermuda being used to share child pornography.

Special Agent Flint Waters, head of the Wyoming Internet Crimes Task Force, said yesterday the alarming figure could mean at least 50 children have suffered abuse as a direct result.

The anti-porn crusader used state-of-the-art technology to trace the rough locations of individual computers downloading and swapping such images in Bermuda since October, 2005.

His work, utilising serial numbers and Internet Protocol addresses, was part of a global study zoning in on perverts exchanging sick images in more than 190 countries.

"They are primarily movies of children under the age of eight and are very sexually explicit. These are not 'baby in the bath tub' movies that some people think have artistic value. In some children are screaming, children are being raped," he explained.

Special Agent Waters described the estimated figures for Bermuda as "low" because his software is only able to catch about half the computer serial numbers each time it sweeps the Internet. In addition, his research only focused on one of around ten existing child porn networks and cannot pinpoint those using e-mail and social networking sites to trade images.

He explained that those being exchanged in Bermuda do not necessarily originate from the Island, and the primary source is likely to be the United States. However, he also pointed to worrying research from the USA's National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that shows more than 30 percent of those who view child pornography go on to physically prey on children.

"We clearly need to train more Police officers and raise awareness since it's obvious the Police can't be everywhere. We need to let people know how bad the problem is," he told The Royal Gazette.

"We need to get improved treatment for children when they are recovered and more Policemen going in more doors. If the 30 percent statistic is true in Bermuda, that's 50 hands-on offenders. We know statistically they abuse more than one child so it's at least 50 children that can be helped by us getting to them."

Special Agent Waters has shared his findings for free with Police services around the globe. He told The Royal Gazette he will share his findings with the Bermuda Police Service and has been in touch with the Government's E-Commerce department.

He can offer access to a map that shows the rough location of every computer IP address that can narrow their use down to a precise time and date, as well as specialised training for law enforcers. More than 18 countries have already taken advantage of his expertise, more than 800 investigators have been trained, and his findings have made headlines across the world.

Police in Toronto, working in tandem with the US task force, announced yesterday that they have launched a massive child pornography sweep across the province of Ontario.

Special Agent Waters has also been in talks with the American Senate about the huge scale of the child pornography problem in the USA, having revealed that more than 570,000 computers are engaged in trading such images there.

In 2006, he was awarded a commendation from the US Attorney General for his hard work. According to the citation, it has resulted in countless children being rescued from abusive situations and their abusers being brought to justice.

Other media reports yesterday focused on news that Special Agent Waters' research showed Bermuda ranking third in the world in terms of the distribution rates per capita of child porn images, behind Luxembourg and the Netherlands. However, he warned that those statistics should not be taken out of context because the Island's small population and high level of internet use mean the activities of just one person can dramatically skew the picture.

"It's not fair to say Bermuda has a larger problem than others. Almost all countries have a problem and in almost all cases law enforcers cannot possibly keep up with it. We are all facing a challenge that none of us expected, let me put it like that," he said.