Spring Break
OPD 'fishing' for sexual predators
Chau Nguyen
Issue date: 8/24/07 Section: Community
With the opportunity to connect to 180 million users worldwide on the social networking Web site MySpace, the possibility of registered sex offenders contacting minors over the Internet has become a topic of concern with the Oxford Police Department (OPD) and Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann.
MySpace, owned by News Corp, was sued in January by a number of families with teenage girls sexually assaulted by MySpace members.
Such cases have prompted Dann and attorney generals from other states-including North Carolina, Connecticut, Idaho, Mississippi, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania-to take action in order to prevent sexual offenders from preying on young users.
Dann is a part of a group of eight state attorney generals lobbying for more precautions in regards to sexual offenders and additional safeguards to protect minors on social networking Web sites.
OPD Detective Sgt. John Buchholz believes the main problem with Web sites such as MySpace is the trusting nature of its young users.
"What worries us more than anything is that a lot of people on MySpace and Facebook are young people and young people, by nature, are trusting," Buchholz said. "Unfortunately, not everyone is like that."
Although knowing where sexual offenders are is a great benefit, Buchholz is more concerned about predators that have not been caught.
"It has been our experience with those types of Internet sites that a lot of the information that people provide about themselves is vague and sometimes not even true," he said.
To combat this problem, Buchholz said the OPD is utilizing officers and interns from the Miami University studying criminology to help catch online predators. Buchholz adds that this often happens when time permits due to other concerns of the police department.
"I don't need a list of people registered as sex offenders," Buchholz said. "All you need to do is register as a 15-year-old girl and you get hits. That's what we do on a regular basis."
Although officers have profiles on Facebook and MySpace, two interns and three police detectives are involved with one of OPD's law enforcement efforts termed "fishing."
Fishing involves talking to potential sexual predators online through chat rooms. Buchholz said that officers or interns never initiate any conversation and often respond to questions posed by potential predators with questions. This allows law enforcement to remain within the law.
Oxford police began "fishing" about a year ago, according to Buchholz. He said OPD began "fishing" then because of the timing and the amount of media coverage that had been surrounding sexual predators.
"You put the bait out there, the idea of a young girl, and you wait for the predator to come to you," said Kathryn Hitch, a Miami senior and OPD intern involved with the effort.
Hitch has had conversations with roughly 40 people since she started the program in May, often chatting with people she has had previous conversations with as a way to gain their trust.
According to Hitch, conversations are continued until they get obscene or sexual. The detectives get involved when there is a violation of the Ohio Revised Code, Buchholz said.
When a violation is made and the chat begins to get more in-depth, that is when an officer takes over the conversation.
"Every time you sign on, you probably talk to at least four or five people who get inappropriate, but you still get at least one or two conversations," Hitch said.
According to Buchholz, two arrests have been made since "fishing" began a year ago.
Buchholz advises online users not to give away too much personal information and to always be cautious.
"The best advice is to limit your contacts to people that you know," Buchholz said.
"I would be very careful on any unsolicited contacts and be even more suspicious of the info given unless you can show that it is true," Buchholz said.
Allison Cole contributed to this report.
MySpace, owned by News Corp, was sued in January by a number of families with teenage girls sexually assaulted by MySpace members.
Such cases have prompted Dann and attorney generals from other states-including North Carolina, Connecticut, Idaho, Mississippi, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania-to take action in order to prevent sexual offenders from preying on young users.
Dann is a part of a group of eight state attorney generals lobbying for more precautions in regards to sexual offenders and additional safeguards to protect minors on social networking Web sites.
OPD Detective Sgt. John Buchholz believes the main problem with Web sites such as MySpace is the trusting nature of its young users.
"What worries us more than anything is that a lot of people on MySpace and Facebook are young people and young people, by nature, are trusting," Buchholz said. "Unfortunately, not everyone is like that."
Although knowing where sexual offenders are is a great benefit, Buchholz is more concerned about predators that have not been caught.
"It has been our experience with those types of Internet sites that a lot of the information that people provide about themselves is vague and sometimes not even true," he said.
To combat this problem, Buchholz said the OPD is utilizing officers and interns from the Miami University studying criminology to help catch online predators. Buchholz adds that this often happens when time permits due to other concerns of the police department.
"I don't need a list of people registered as sex offenders," Buchholz said. "All you need to do is register as a 15-year-old girl and you get hits. That's what we do on a regular basis."
Although officers have profiles on Facebook and MySpace, two interns and three police detectives are involved with one of OPD's law enforcement efforts termed "fishing."
Fishing involves talking to potential sexual predators online through chat rooms. Buchholz said that officers or interns never initiate any conversation and often respond to questions posed by potential predators with questions. This allows law enforcement to remain within the law.
Oxford police began "fishing" about a year ago, according to Buchholz. He said OPD began "fishing" then because of the timing and the amount of media coverage that had been surrounding sexual predators.
"You put the bait out there, the idea of a young girl, and you wait for the predator to come to you," said Kathryn Hitch, a Miami senior and OPD intern involved with the effort.
Hitch has had conversations with roughly 40 people since she started the program in May, often chatting with people she has had previous conversations with as a way to gain their trust.
According to Hitch, conversations are continued until they get obscene or sexual. The detectives get involved when there is a violation of the Ohio Revised Code, Buchholz said.
When a violation is made and the chat begins to get more in-depth, that is when an officer takes over the conversation.
"Every time you sign on, you probably talk to at least four or five people who get inappropriate, but you still get at least one or two conversations," Hitch said.
According to Buchholz, two arrests have been made since "fishing" began a year ago.
Buchholz advises online users not to give away too much personal information and to always be cautious.
"The best advice is to limit your contacts to people that you know," Buchholz said.
"I would be very careful on any unsolicited contacts and be even more suspicious of the info given unless you can show that it is true," Buchholz said.
Allison Cole contributed to this report.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Anonymous
posted 8/11/08 @ 5:16 AM EST
It's not myspace's fault! It's the parent's. Because they didn't properly teach their kids to be aware of other people, or not to post indecent pictures on the web, don't you think?
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