Professional standards
The harm that corruption causes to an organisation such as the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre cannot be overstated; whether this is measured in terms of the undermining of public confidence, the damage to the reputation of CEOP and therefore their ability to do business, or in financial terms. Maintaining public confidence is essential if the CEOP Centre is to receive the support from the communities/partners that they need to operate effectively. That confidence can easily be undermined both by the corrupt actions of a small minority of staff, and more widely, CEOP as a whole are not seen to reflect the highest standards of integrity and professionalism.
Trust in the integrity of CEOP lays at the very heart of the way their staff, and the community they serve, view it. CEOP will protect its reputation by making full use of the Serious Organised Crime Agency Professional Standards Department (PSD) which makes clear our determination to maintain the pursuit and the prosecution of corrupt and dishonest members of staff, either current or past; and as importantly, those individuals who seek to entrap and corrupt them.
The SOCA PSD, which will also have responsibility for CEOP, will place the National Intelligence Model (NIM) principles and intelligence-led prevention at the core of its actions to minimise the risks to the organisation, fed by its knowledge of the issues and regular intelligence-led reviews to determine the effectiveness of its actions.