The Hessian police have once again struck a blow against pedo-criminal offenders.

As the State Criminal Police Office (LKA) announced on Monday, investigators have searched 57 apartments throughout Hesse.

A total of 64 suspects are suspected of producing, possessing and distributing child pornography.

They are also accused of sexual abuse of children. 

More than 230 investigators were involved in the searches, according to a spokeswoman for the LKA.

Within five days, the officers secured a total of 445 storage media, including 92 smartphones, 48 ​​USB sticks and 43 computers.

The data is now being evaluated and is intended to provide information as to whether the suspects took the photos and videos showing the crimes themselves. 

64 accused

The searches took place in several cities, including Frankfurt, Darmstadt, Offenbach and Wiesbaden.

The districts of Darmstadt-Dieburg, Groß-Gerau, the Main-Kinzig district and the Main-Taunus and Hochtaunus districts were also affected.

Ten of the 64 accused are women, the spokeswoman for the LKA said.

According to current knowledge, the accused are not in contact with each other. 

The LKA again drew attention to the fact that the police are always dependent on information from the population for these acts.

According to the spokeswoman, there is a large number of unreported cases of sexualized violence, including to the detriment of children and young people.

The crimes often happened within the family, in the social environment of the victims or through the use of social media. 

"Silence only helps the perpetrators," says Holger Däubner, who works as a state victim protection officer at the Hessian State Criminal Police Office. In his experience, looking the other way is "the worst thing that can happen to a victim of abuse. Anyone who suspects that a child or young person is being subjected to sexualized violence should not hesitate to inform the police immediately." Without a report, a perpetrator may go undetected and commit further crimes. "Anyone who is unsure whether a report makes sense in an individual case can contact an advice center." 

Däubner went on to say that the police now have specially trained employees who inform victims and their families about the rights and procedures of investigations.

They could also put you in touch with counseling centres.

The contact details of the locally responsible victim protection officers of the Hessian police are available on the Internet at https://www.polizei.hessen.de/Service/AnsprechPersonen-in-Hessen.