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Press releaseSalt Lake City -- Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff says online predators are becoming a bigger menace and stronger steps need to be taken to stop these "insidious crimes" against children. Shurtleff's statement comes in response to the Harvard University study about Internet predators on MySpace and other social networking sites.
"Our Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force has seen a nearly 40 percent increase in the number of arrests even though we do not have any more investigators," says Shurtleff. "We are finding more Internet predators and we cannot stress enough that parents need to find out what their children are doing online."
The report commissioned by the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) working group concludes, "Sexual predation on minors by adults, both online and offline, remains a concern. Youth report sexual solicitation of minors by minors more frequently, but these incidents, too, are understudied, underreported to law enforcement, and not part of most conversations about online safety."
Shurtleff agrees with the report that critical steps need to be taken, including:
- Providing more education about online safety
- More training for law enforcement
- Developing new technology to protect youth on the Internet
Since 2000 the Utah ICAC Task Force has made nearly 600 arrests. Last year alone ICAC made 108 arrests, trained 250 law enforcement officers and educated more than 20,000 parents and children.
Shurtleff says the report contains encouraging information about enforcement and education efforts but fails to provide a remedy to increase reporting and stop sexual predators.
"Despite budget difficulties the Utah Attorney General's Office will continue developing strategies to combat the twin evils of child pornography and child predators," says Shurtleff. "We are grateful that social networking sites and Internet service providers are joining us in the discussion but we will push them to do more to keep children safe."
For the full report, CLICK HERE.
For more information about online safety CLICK HERE.
(Courtesy: Paul Murphy with the Utah Attorney General's Office)
