archaicearth wrote:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12762333

 This blew my mind that  it took this long to break this up.   
I can actually understand the lengths of the investigations in such cases - The longer you investigate, the more you can gather evidence on the people involved. The upside is more guilty verdicts, the downside is that it may mean more victims, and I'd not want to be the judge on which one is best.

Act very quickly, and you will jail some pedophiles, but as the 'chain is not broken' other pedophiles will simply build better strategies to work with and it may even mean more victims and less data for the police forces. 

Investigate over a few years, and yes, it means children are victimized in the meantime, but you may bring the whole network down as a result.

This said, regardless of any strategy we use, and how many sexual offenders we send behind bars, sexual assaults on children will happen. Some people are simply really that sick, and before any confusion sets in, I do not mean sick in the official, medical sense.