The Knoxville Police Department Serves as a Role Model for Protecting Children from Online Sexual Predators
Sheriff Tim Gobble of Bradley County says, "I know there is a lot going uninvestigated and not being prosecuted. By becoming part of a regional concept, sharing information and forensic technologies, we're going to be able to put more emphasis on it."
In January, 2000, through a grant from the Department of Justice and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Knoxville Police Department founded Strike Force, a unit of KPD that is dedicated to protecting children online.
In 2007, the PROTECT organization won new money for the state of Tennessee for use in combatting online child exploitation. The Knoxville Police Department took the money, recruited more police officers, trained them in the use of the new technologies in order to equip their regional law enforcement agencies. As each agency becomes better trained and equipped, more predators will be found and more child sexual assault victims will be rescued. Finding these online predators, prosecuting them and rescuing abused and exploited children is the goal of the Knoxville Police Department.
PROTECT - The National Association to Protect Children says, "This is exactly how it should work . . . Admit there's a crisis. Dedicate resources not just rhetoric, to solving it. And let them know you're coming."
The problem is much larger than anyone can imagine.
With the widespread use and availability of the Internet, children are easy prey for online sexual predators. Parents need to teach their children the dangers lurking on the Internet, they need to use every safeguard they can find and monitor their child's online activities at all times. Statistics for online sexual violations are appalling. According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, one in five children who use the Internet has been approached by perpetrators in the past year and one in four children have been unwillingly exposed to pornography.
This presents and documents a growing problem in our nation and around the world as more and more young children and teens use the Internet. As parents become more educated and involved in the protection of their children and as more law enforcement agencies follow the lead of The Knoxville Police Department, the Internet can become a safer place for children and teens. The job of protecting our children belongs to all of us.
Sources:
http://www.strikeforceonline.org/index.html
http://www.ci.knoxville.tn.us/kpd/default.asp
http://www.protect.org/
Published by Vicki Messer
In 1997 I began a personal journey of healing from years of childhood sexual abuse. For the better part of 10 years, I worked my way through the painful repressed memories of incest at the hands of several... View profile
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8 Comments
Post a CommentGreat thanks for writing
Good reporting.
Nice reporting and I am glad to see somebody going after these scumbags.
The problem is huge. This is an excellent thing they're doing. Thanks for the info.
Some resources should be spent on educating the parents. I'm learning about safeguards and parental controls now, before my kids start "surfing" but I would be more than happy to pay for a class.
It is so good to hear something good for a change
It's good to hear about what the Knoxville Police Department is doing to protect children. Hopefully others will follow their lead.
"The job of protecting our children belongs to all of us." AMEN!