Switzerland’s federal police received 16,750 NCMEC reports in 2025; about 12% resulted in case files sent to cantonal police.
The U.S.-based National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) sends reports about suspected online child exploitation to law-enforcement agencies outside the United States. In Switzerland, they go to the Federal Office of Police, or fedpol, which assesses the reports and refers files to cantonal police when it finds indications of an offence.
Fedpol says it received 16,750 reports in 2025; about 12% became files forwarded to cantonal authorities. The canton of Vaud received 178 files. Vaud police spokesperson Olivia Cutruzzolà told RTS that an established offence leads to a police complaint, but an alert alone does not mean automatic arrest or conviction. Some investigations are closed for lack of evidence.
NCMEC receives reports from technology platforms and forwards information to national law enforcement when it is linked to another country. Fedpol says the volume is increasing as platforms’ algorithms improve, and also reports that offenders are using AI to generate child sexual abuse images and videos.
NCMEC alerts have featured in investigations in France and Switzerland, including cases involving alleged abuse at childcare facilities. Each report must be assessed under national law and is not proof of guilt on its own. Switzerland is considering additional safeguards: a register of childcare workers has been proposed in Vaud, and lawmaker Nina Fehr Düsel filed a similar motion at federal level. NCMEC did not respond to RTS’s interview request.