Imagine a child, a teenager, hanging out in a room full of kids roughly the same age. They chat, talk about school, sports, their favorite music. Soon though, the conversation becomes much more adult, maybe even explicit. Now a handful of adults enter the room; they look around, chatting with teenagers. An older man pulls aside a thirteen-year-old girl. He wants to know everything about her, and she tells him. They agree to meet later, outside the room, for a “date.”

That could never happen, right? Somebody would see something; there would be chaperones. Groups of teenagers would not be left in a room with strangers, and certainly those teenagers wouldn’t start opening up about themselves, saying where they live, saying “Yes, it would be fun to meet up later.” That would never happen. But every day, in chat rooms across the country, this scenario plays itself out. It happens in Tulare County, too. Only now there is a team that is trying to put a stop to it.

The Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement (SAFE) Team is a group of local law enforcement officials that, according to its website, is “dedicated to proactively preventing sexual assault crimes and keeping convicted sexual assault offenders off the streets of Tulare County.”

Before the Internet was a part of children’s daily lives, rules for children were more straightforward: Never talk to strangers. Do not accept rides or gifts from somebody you don’t know. If a stranger approaches you, yell for help and run. Before the Internet, sexual predators seemed, somehow, more tangible; they had faces, you could see them up close. With the Internet, however, the dangers have changed, and that makes the Tulare County SAFE Team’s job much more difficult.

According to the Federal Health and Human Services Department, 900,000 cases of child abuse—including sexual abuse—are reported annually; because abuse is often underreported, that amount is estimated to be only one-third of the actual total. The SAFE Team was created to attempt to bring Tulare County’s portion of this number down. But as Sergeant Chris Douglass of the Tulare County Sheriff’s Department explains, it becomes more difficult when dealing with the Internet.

The Internet and chat rooms allow for anonymous conversation; both children and adults can pretend to be somebody they’re not. There is a false sense of security for many children and teens and suddenly talking to strangers or accepting gifts doesn’t seem so dangerous. But chat rooms are where many sexual predators lurk these days, Douglass says.

“One in five children ages ten to seventeen who are regular Internet users are sexually solicited online,” Douglass says. “One in four receives unwanted sexual contact online.”

This can include solicitation, sexually explicit pictures or emails, and chat room invitations that are sexual in nature. While that number is troubling, the next is even more staggering: Solicitation of minors for sex online is growing at the rate of 1,000% every month.

The SAFE Team has four objectives: Monitor sex offenders who have a high propensity to commit another sexual assault crime; identify and apprehend sexual predators and track convicted predators; assist other law enforcement agencies with sexual assault investigations; and teach the community to recognize predatory behavior and where to seek help.

The last objective—education—may be most critical to fighting the presence of online sexual predators. Many times, parents are unaware that anything is going on until it is too late. In fact, Douglass says, “fewer than 15% of parents feel they know more about PCs than their teenage sons or daughters.”

This can make it difficult for parents to know exactly what is taking place when their children go online. Chat rooms differ from the real world in many ways; not only do people act differently inside chat rooms, but the language itself changes. Ask the SAFE Team for a list of common acronyms used in chat rooms and you’ll get a twelve-page list. (See sidebar.) Many of these acronyms are specifically designed by privacy-seeking teens to be indecipherable to parents—a fact that predators can use to their advantage. But a parent’s knowledge can take that weapon out of a predator’s arsenal. Learning exactly what all of these acronyms mean can seem a daunting task but Douglass says that’s part of what the SAFE Team does; it can help parents and children understand the risks and dangers associated with going online.

With so many facts and numbers, it can seem there is no safety from online sexual predators, but Douglass says that by coupling SAFE Team efforts with safe online practices within the community, kids can go online much more safely. A big part of ensuring your child’s safety is monitoring their online activity, Douglass says.

“Use of chat rooms should be heavily monitored,” Douglass says. “If your child is spending large amounts of time online, especially at night, if you find pornography on your child’s computer or if your child turns off the monitor as your enter the room, you should have a discussion.”

Better yet, Douglass says, discuss safe online practices with your children before they go online.

“Spend time with your child online,” Douglass says. “Let them teach you about their favorite online destinations.”

The SAFE Team, meanwhile, will be doing its best to ensure the community is safe from sexual predators. This includes monitoring chat rooms and websites, but extends beyond cyberspace. There are still many dangers lurking in the community besides online sexual predators, and recently the SAFE Team received a $639,000 grant to continue its work in Tulare County.

The grant, awarded by the governor’s Office of Emergency Services, will be used to continue investigating and capturing sex offenders and providing education to the community. Sheriff Bill Whittman says the grant money will help the SAFE Team continue pursuing its objectives.

“I appreciate the help of the governor’s Office of Emergency Services in these efforts,” Whittman says. “This proactive approach will enhance the safety of those living in and visiting Tulare County.”

Part of that proactive approach is the creation of OffenderWatch, an online database that monitors the whereabouts, conduct and compliance of registered offenders in Tulare County. The information is available to the public, so residents can go online and find out what is going on in their neighborhoods. To view the database, please visit www.tularesheriff.info

In addition, the team will be able to purchase fingerprint processing equipment, video capture and enhancement software, and computer forensic software. With better surveillance equipment and an increased education program, the SAFE Team hopes to make Tulare County a much safer place—both on the streets and in cyberspace.

If this is active, an OffenderWatch URL would be a good infobox

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