Note: This article has been edited to reflect an error regarding former UF law professor John Shannon
As the Internet becomes an increasingly dangerous place for children, local officials are finding that Gainesville is not exempt from online sexual predators.
Internet crimes against minors are growing nationwide, and they include sending and downloading child pornography and using the Internet to meet children with the intent to commit sexual offenses.
These crimes are growing so much that law enforcement officers cannot effectively combat them.
"We are losing this battle," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Williams, who works out of north Florida. "And the general public has no idea."
Growing Danger
Every year, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children reviews child pornography files it finds on the Internet.
From 2006 to 2007, the number of files the center reviewed rose 66 percent, from about 3 million to about 5 million. The reviewed files are expected to reach 7 million by 2008.
CyberTipline, a national outlet for people to report online child sexual exploitation, received 105,261 tips in 2007, compared with 76,584 in 2006.
The tips, which are distributed to the local law enforcement agencies by the Internet Crimes Against Children task force, are projected to reach 120,000 by 2008.
Internet pornography is a growing problem not only in America but worldwide, said Gainesville Police Department Detective Mitchell Nixon.
"If you've got a computer, they're a problem."
Nixon is part of the task force unit that covers Gainesville and most of north Florida.
The task force is a nationwide network of law enforcement officers that assists local agencies in fighting the sexual exploitation of children on the Internet.
Several local incidents have recently received widespread attention.
In late March, the Associated Press reported that Lakeland law enforcement officers charged 21 men with possession and distribution of child pornography after finding 100,000 pornographic images of children, some as young as one month old.
Preventative Challenges
One reason child sexual exploitation is such a serious problem on the Internet is that parents and children know little about it, Williams said.
"This is a huge deal and it's been long overlooked," he said.
Many parents aren't aware of the dangers because computers are such an integral part of their everyday lives that they don't think about them as being dangerous, Nixon said.
"The disturbing thing about the Internet is it's in every home," he said.
The nature of the Internet helps empower sexual predators because it allows them to contact hundreds of children a day.
Children are vulnerable to this type of crime because they are naive, Nixon said.
"Kids tend to be trusting," he said. "They tend to have that immortality complex."
Nancy Case, head media specialist for Alachua County public school media centers, echoed Nixon's beliefs.
"They only think of it as a source of fun," Case said. "They don't think of it as a source of danger."
Undercover investigations of sexual predators are also time consuming, and it's difficult to get agency heads to devote resources to them, Nixon said.
A federal bill sponsored by Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., would give law enforcement needed resources, Nixon said.
The Combating Child Exploitation Act of 2007, which has not yet been passed by Congress, would allocate $1.05 billion during the next eight years to enhancing the Internet Crimes Against Children task force.
Proactive Actions
One way the Alachua County Sheriff's Office confronts the crime is by making public safety presentations, Sheriff's Office spokesman Sgt. Steve Maynard said.
All the media specialists who work in Alachua County public schools are also trained in the dangers the Internet poses to children, Case said.
Judith Weaver, the media specialist at the High Springs Community School middle school, said every child there takes one class a year on Internet safety.
She said one lesson the students are taught is to log off if they receive a strange or threatening message.
"It's sort of like the 'don't talk to strangers' we teach them when they're little kids," she said.
Weaver has also taught parents in the PTA how to protect their children by putting computers in common areas in their homes.
Nixon said part of protecting children is applying age-old parenting techniques to new technology.
"Know who your kids are talking to and who their friends are," he said.
He said the exploitation of children through the Internet has become such a problem that parents need to be more proactive to learn how it works and how their children could be in danger.
"This is not a problem you can fix with arrests," he said. "Adults need to be more aware about what's happening online and so do kids."
