The Queensland Police Service (QPS) has brought together industry leaders, policing jurisdictions and safety experts in an Australian-first working group aimed at enhancing digital safety.
Police and industry representatives united at the Digital Platforms Conference last week, to explore community safety online in an age where digital platforms continue to evolve, grow and impact day-to-day life.
With representatives from government agencies and industry including Tinder (and its parent company Match Group), TikTok, Uber, Ola, Tabcorp and Next Door, Assistant Commissioner Katherine Innes said the QPS aimed to discuss challenges and learnings for the benefit of our communities.
"It's fantastic to see so many industry leaders in the online and digital space come together under one roof to have these important discussions that will allow us to continue to make online environments safe ones," she said.
"Our policing colleagues and counterparts from throughout Australia and New Zealand are welcomed and thanked for joining us as we embrace this opportunity to gain a greater appreciation for crimes facilitated through the misuse of digital platforms.
"Connecting our industry partners and police in one space allows us to have robust and productive discussions and come up with actionable outcomes.
"Digital platforms offer so many benefits for individuals and society. While there is only small percentage of online behaviour and interactions responsible for unsafe and criminal actions, this has the potential to cause harm in our communities.
"It is our hope that our work throughout this conference will help us determine ways to adapt investigation methods and develop agreed and consistent processes for addressing harmful and criminal digital content."
The conference saw more than 65 attendees from around the country participate in group discussions and workshops, as they learnt from each other's experiences.
Content considered the key trends impacting digital platforms, societal communication changes, how technology impacts interactions between offenders and victims and a deep dive into key crime areas affected by the online environment.
"As a Service, we continue to analyse and learn to stay up to date and as relevant as possible as technology and communication methods change, particularly for our most vulnerable cohorts," Assistant Commissioner Innes said.
"Most of all, it's integral that, we combined, continue to work together to ensure the safety of our communities, in person and online."
The conference aimed to foster partnerships between law enforcement and industry to 'build online safety'.
"Open, constructive and continuous engagement with law enforcement is an important part of our unwavering commitment to ensuring the safety of our community," A TikTok spokesperson said
"TikTok was delighted to attend the conference to share best practices, and discuss how we can work together in our joint pursuit of ensuring a safe online ecosystem and preventing real world harm."
"At Match Group, we believe everyone has the right to date freely and safely, and our approach to helping create a safe platform is rooted in disrupting and preventing potential harms – both online and in real life," Buddy Loomis, Senior Director of Trust and Safety at Match Group said.
"We share a collective mission with Queensland Police Service, policing jurisdictions throughout Australia, and safety experts to make online dating and digital platforms safer and look forward to continue working together."
"With millions of people using the Uber app every day to request rides and deliveries across Australia, safety is fundamental to Uber," Justin Gallagher, Senior Manager of Public Safety at Uber said.
"This conference was a fantastic opportunity to further our partnership with law enforcement and other digital platforms from across Australia and New Zealand to enhance safety both on our platforms and in the communities in which we operate."
