Politics & Government

Gwinnett Increases Efforts to Protect Children on Internet

The county has started Operation Escape Key to better inform the public of dangers.

Law enforcement and child advocates know something the public may not be aware of. That Atlanta is one of the main hubs in the nation for sexual exploitation of children.

It used to be that children in metro Atlanta were victimized by pimps who posted them on street corners and passed them around to friends. Now, predators have stepped their methods up, using the Internet to find young girls for sex. Facebook has also been a driver, officials say.

Just a few weeks ago,  for allegedly traveling there to have sex with a child, whom he became aware of from a fake Internet posting by the FBI-led Northwest Georgia Safe Child Task Force.

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On August 17, Gwinnett County announced a plan to step up its efforts with Operation Escape Key, four-tiered program designed to educate citizens about protecting children on the Internet. Members of the county District Attorney's Office, the Gwinnett County Police Department, and the Gwinnett County School Police will bring the presentation to organizations in the area, including schools and community groups.

Over the past year, local law enforcement had training led by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which leads the state's efforts regarding Internet crimes against children.

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"Internet crime against children is a serious and increasing threat that demands the attention of us all," said Danny Porter, Gwinnett County District Attorney. "Only through combining all of our resources can we make a difference in identifying and holding accountable this group of perpetrators who have focused on the most vulnerable segment of our society."

Agencies across the state -- from umbrella organizations like the FBI and GBI to small nonprofits like Gwinnett-based Street Grace -- are all working together to curb the number of these Internet crimes against children and to help young children who become victims. In cases were these children are being bought and sold, they are known as Commercially Sexually Exploited Children, or CSEC victims.

"Sexual exploitation of children has developed in to various subcultures each with their own methods of operations," said Cpl. Jake Smith, based on information the Special Victims Unit. "Some tend to form online groups where they can remain anonymous, but still share information and offer support and encouragement to each other.

"There are various aspects for computer crimes against children, be it collecting or trading child porn, chat rooms, or trying to get a child to meet for sex acts."

A lot of times, Porter said Wednesday, parents and teachers ask how can they know that their child is a potential victim. What's key is knowing that these predators aren't just looking for one child or one type of victim, he said. "They're throwing the net pretty wide."

And, most crimes reported by children, depending on the type of crime, are at rate of just 3 percent to 10 percent, according to the GBI. This means that some 90 percent of Internet crimes against children are not reported to police.

John Whitaker, the GBI special agent in charge of the Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit, said "the prevalence is much higher than people realize" for cyber crimes against children.

Although the number of incidents depends on the type of case, Whitaker said he has not seen a decline in the unit's level of work for many years. The unit gets requests for assistance or information from other law enforcement teams in and outside the state, through cybertips, and parents, among others.

"Parents need to be aware that their children can access the Internet from many more places than just in the home," Whitaker said. "Parents need to speak candidly with their children about what is going on out there. Once a picture is out there it can never be completely erased from the web."

In a recent calendar year, Whitaker said his unit received 797 cybertips, which was as high as number as anyone could remember. Earlier this year, the team had their largest statewide operation to arrest persons that were sharing child porn. There were nearly 100 search warrants that netted at least 70 arrests, as of April 2011.

Current technology and training has increased the number of arrests that are made, he said. From about March 2003 to February 2011, the GBI task force task made 701 arrests.

"The main limitation on the number of cases and arrests we can make are based purely on a shortage of resources to battle this problem," Whitaker added.

In Gwinnett, officials are hoping that the newest program -- Operation Escape Key -- will make strides in alerting the community to the issues, and therefore help law enforcement to protect children.

"Anytime we can prevent the children from being potential victims in the case, we're satisfied, we're extremely happy," said Maj. Kevin Moran, who leads the Criminal Investigations Section of the Gwinnett County Police Department. "Prosecution is almost the last step to try to minimize this from becoming a problem and having the child as a victim. We'd much rather prefer to prevent this from even taking place."

Consider these statistics, provided by local law enforcement:

  • One in four youth had an unwanted exposure in the past year to pictures of naked people or people having sex.
  • One in five children ages 10-17 have experienced sexual exploitation.
  • Fifty-five percent (55%) of students report having given out personal information to someone they have only met online.
  • One in 33 children ages 10-17 experienced "aggressive" sexual exploitation, such as: meeting them somewhere, calling on phone, sending mail, money or gifts.
  • Twenty-three percent (23%) of youth who received ab unwanted sexual solicitation were asked by the predator to meet in person.
  • Seventy-nine percent (79%) of youth unwanted exposure to pornography occurs in the home.
  • Sites promoting prostitution with minors have included teenage runaways and children as young as 12.

Several Georgia resources regarding exploitation/crimes against children, advocacy, prevention work and treatment:


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