Crimes Against Children Are Intolerable
If you know me or have followed me for any length of time then you know that crimes against children are intolerable to me and much of my life is spent working to make this world a safer place for children. Yesterday, I spent time with Billings Police Detective Earl Campbell learning of the significant increase in internet crimes against children in Montana and throughout our nation. With the work I do at the national level on human trafficking, I knew apps like Omegle have been used to target kids in rural communities and regions, but to hear about recent cases right here in my own community and in the surrounding small towns is gut-wrenching.
These crimes are gut-wrenching no matter where a child lives. Somehow we always expect these types of crimes to happen somewhere else. Somewhere that is not where we live.
BUT these crimes are happening to children EVERYWHERE. Even in our small, rural communities.
In 2008, over 600,000 images/videos of CSAM (child sexual abuse material) were reported to the National Center on Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), calling it an epidemic.
In 2019, 70,000,000—70 million—CSAM images were reported.
CSAM has so overwhelmed law enforcement (LE), that many law enforcement agencies now prioritize material depicting infants and toddlers, not older children. LE does not even have enough resources to target perpetrators in REAL-TIME. A 2018 NCMEC/ Thorn study found that CSAM is getting worse: “The most notable historical finding was a trend toward more egregious sexual content.”
What can parents do to help keep their children safe on the Internet?
Do not allow your minor child to have a smartphone in their bedroom. Keep all charging stations out of bedrooms.
Do random device checks frequently. Read their text messages and look at the activity on all apps.
Know what apps are being used.
Know all usernames and passwords for your child's accounts and social networks.
Your child may be angry or even say they hate you for checking their smartphone activity, but know that through this you are helping to keep them SAFE. CSAM is documentation of crime. Victims suffer gross physical & psychological harm at the hands of offenders. They suffer again as harm is endlessly reenacted & circulated on the Internet.
If your school, organization, or business would like training on how to prevent internet crimes against children, please contact your local police department or task forces fighting human trafficking.
