Child porn crackdown nets six teachers

A crackdown on teachers who access images of child pornography has yielded six arrests since it was launched last year.

Operation Richmond, an initiative of the Department of Education and Training to identify suspicious internet sites being accessed by employees, claimed its first scalp within days of its introduction in June 2008.

Education Minister Liz Constable said the department's child protection investigators and information technology experts worked closely with WA Police to ensure anyone caught with material exploiting children was removed from child-related work immediately.

"I think the vast majority of the Western Australian community would share my disgust at anyone who exploits children, or supports the exploitation of children, in this way," Dr Constable said.

"Such people have no place in our schools and we will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to remove them from any contact with children.

"Just two days after Operation Richmond was introduced, information had been gathered which led to a teacher's arrest, and a further five teachers have since been charged by police with possessing child pornography."

The operation is part of the department's response to the recommendations of the Corruption and Crime Commission and the Ombudsman in 2006 relating to how complaints and allegations of sexual contact with children should be handled.

The Standards and Integrity Directorate was established in October 2006 with specialist child protection investigators employed to target and investigate employee misconduct.

The Minister said the department would continue to work closely with police on issues of child protection.

"Parents rightly expect their children to be safe and secure in school and we have strong procedures to ensure convicted teachers, whose crime indicates that they may pose a threat to children, are not employed in our schools," she said.

"Six teachers is a tiny proportion of the 21,500 teachers employed in public schools. The vast majority of WA's teachers are dedicated and trustworthy professionals.

"However, parents can be assured that where their child's safety is placed at risk, we will make sure the staff members responsible are quickly identified and removed immediately."