internet operation to trap pedophiles

Internet operation to trap pedophiles
By Tony Vermeer
August 07, 2005
From:
NSW Police will launch an undercover operation on the Internet to capture predators targeting children in chatrooms.

Using new Commonwealth laws that make it an offence to engage in sexual conversations online with minors, police officers will pose as teenage bait to flush out offenders.
Commander Kim McKay, of the State's Child Protection and Sex Crimes Squad, said the operation would begin in two weeks.

It is part of a co-operative effort involving the Australian Federal Police and state police forces to combat the exploitation of children on the Internet.

The Commonwealth legislation, which came into force in March, makes it an offence to "groom" a minor for sexual purposes by sending indecent pictures or taking part in indecent conversations online.

Offenders can be jailed for up to 15 years.


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The law specifically allows police officers to pose as a fictitious person, such as a young girl, to uncover offenders, overcoming any defence of entrapment.
Commander McKay said she feared the problem of pedophiles prowling chatrooms in Australia was more widespread than commonly thought.

"I'm concerned once we start looking that we will be opening up a can of worms," she said.

The Sunday Telegraph was given a demonstration of the problem last week when a visiting FBI consultant set up a sting operation

using her laptop computer in a Sydney hotel.

Laura Chappell, a professional wire-tapper and member of a US group that entraps pedophiles, signed on to a chatroom as a 12-year-old girl looking for a friend.

In minutes, she had half a dozen replies from men - two of whom said they lived in Sydney.

Their online conversations started innocently but once they moved into private chatrooms the men quickly steered the exchanges towards sex even after establishing that their target was under age.

Some respondents sent explicit pictures of themselves to Ms Chappell.

One 50-year old extolled the virtues of older men and asked to speak to the young girl - the next step before setting up a meeting according to experts. "Parents are shocked when we tell them how easy this is for predators," said Ms Chappell, who has written an Internet safety guide for children.

"These people will take hours and hours to work on their victims once they have established contact."

One survey in the US said 19 per cent of children aged 10-17 reported being approached for sex through the Internet at least once a year.

Ms Chappell and other members of her group developed contacts with predators.

They then turned them over to law-enforcement agencies for further investigation and prosecution.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,16172565-421,00.html