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NEW JERSEY COPS n MAY 2014
has received a sexual solicitation online. More than half of
them were asked to send a picture.
• Nine percent of seventh-to-ninth-grade students have
accepted an online invitation to meet someone in person.
• Thirteen percent of second-to-third-graders report that they
used the Internet to talk to people they do not know.
“Predators are very cunning, and every time a sexually explicit image of a minor is produced, transmitted or viewed, a child
is victimized,” Ort added. “And once a photo is on the internet,
it lives forever. This is serious crime and we take it very seriously.”
Last year alone, ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)
special agents logged more than one million hours working child
sexual exploitation cases, opening more than 4,000 investigations. ICE also made between 40 and 50 presentations, and the
word is beginning to spread.
“We’ve been making arrests and a lot of headway as an agency
on a global scale, but we need the help of local law enforcement
and parents for kids to understand how to make good online
decisions,” Ort said. “It’s an educational process and we’re all in
this together.”
Police departments interested in organizing a school presentation or a talk to law enforcement officers can call ICE’s duty
desk at 973-776-5500 and ask for the Cyber group supervisor.
HSI has been investigating predators since ICE’s creation in
2003, and althou