NCJ Number
176270
Journal
Sheriff Volume: 50 Issue: 6 Dated: November-December 1998 Pages: 10-11-15
Date Published
1998
Length
3 pages
Annotation
The crimes designed to exploit, molest, or harm children through Internet contact are so new that standard data collection or investigative techniques do not exist; however, several methods can aid investigators in dealing with these crimes.
Abstract
The new problems include Internet child pornography, suspects who are willing to travel to have sex with children, and people who post illegal images on on-line services and newsgroups. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has operated its Innocent Images stings for many years, but the volume of cases has led to Federal funding to create local multijurisdictional task forces to address the problems. Police investigators should avoid revealing that they are police officers. Therefore, they should use an Internet account that cannot be traced to their locality or agency. They should set up a profile of the person they are pretending to be, learn things to say to earn the predator's trust, obtain a nice picture of a young person from a catalog in the public domain, and use chat software to trace the identity of the perpetrator. They can also examine web site addresses to identify pornography traders. They should log and save all chats with perpetrators and should provide notes to other jurisdictions' authorities as appropriate. Illustrations