AS a child, Daniel Walker wanted to be a superhero.
Today the Christchurch cop is the founder of NVader, a new faith-based organisation formed to combat sex trafficking.
The New Zealand organisation will become operational next month, helping to rescue women and children sold into overseas brothels, and working with local officials to bring the traffickers to justice.
Walker, who uses a pseudonym for legal and security reasons, helped to rescue hundreds of women and children during a four-year stint as an investigator for two human rights organisations. Most of his work was in developing countries blighted by poverty and corruption — "all the usual problems" — that make sex trafficking viable for criminals.
Wearing covert recording devices, Walker would visit brothels to document a "transaction", taking down as much information as possible, and asking the workers about their experiences when they were meant to be having sex. The groups he worked with secured the first sex trafficking convictions in several countries.
"We had the GPS co-ordinates of the brothel and the serial numbers of banknotes, it was really damning, compelling evidence."