NCJ Number
78654
Journal
Police Product News Volume: 5 Issue: 8 Dated: (August 1981) Pages: 30-33
Date Published
1981
Length
4 pages
Annotation
An interview with the officer in charge of the Los Angeles Police Department's Sexually Exploited Child Unit (SECU) covers the unit's development, child pornography, characteristics of child molesters and their victims, and methods of investigating child abuse cases.
Abstract
SECU promoted the passage of a 1977 California law requiring all retailers and wholesalers to keep the names and addresses of their child pornography suppliers which resulted in the removal of child pornographic materials from the open shelves. Police now believe that most child pornography films are processed in Europe and then distributed by mail in the United States. Because adult pornographers won't handle child pornography, pedophiles generally do most of this work. Lectures given by SECU officers to police academies and interested groups describe two types of pedophiles and their victims: child molesters are adults who receive sexual gratification from little girls, while chickenhawks refer to adults who sexually exploit little boys. Most molesters are known to their victims and probably have little control over their behavior. Pedophiles often have age preferences and haunt favorite hangouts of a particular age group. Victims are usually willing, noncomplaining children who are hungry for attention, affection, and praise. Runaways are particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation. Law enforcement officers should maintain a special lookout for adults paying an abnormal amount of attention to a child or displays of child pornography in a home or office. Convicted molesters are frequently sentenced to only short periods in jail or State hospitals and then released. Police work in this field requires long hours of surveillance and investigation, low-key interviews with offenders and victims, and a special personality to deal with pedophiles. Community involvement, more enforceable laws, and stronger penalties are needed to combat the problem. No references are cited.