Sheriff Tom Dart said it’s essential that not only the federal
government, but internet sites and parents take action to fight
this growing trend.
Dart recently held a news conference after six separate arrests,
which included child pornography, prostitution and trafficking.
One trafficking case involved a child. The Sheriff’s Office also
acted relating to the operation of a bordello. Additionally,
numerous women, who were being trafficked or could have been,
responded to sheriff’s office ads, Dart said.
These cases are just a microcosm, he said, of all the activity
nationwide. They were accomplished without a special effort,
which he said points to the “persuasiveness” of the problem.
Although Cook County is a leader in fighting such crimes, he
said, it’s more than law enforcement can tackle alone. Instead,
it must be a three-pronged attack, involving the federal
government, internet sites used to perpetuate these crimes, and
parents as watchdogs of their children.
Dart stressed the need for internet companies to adopt protocols
to prevent these crimes.
“They need to work on their sites whether it be filters or
whatever … and they need to work with us in law enforcement when
things aren’t right. They need to be doing this with passion
because they’re interested in stopping this and not profiting
out of it,” he said.
It’s not the dark web that is harboring these practices, he
said, but sites that can be visited without a password. That’s
why parents need to get more involved. He empowered parents to
monitor their kids’ internet activity because these crimes can
happen anywhere.
“Being a parent means you need to snoop around,” he said.
He noted an astronomical increase in child pornography, which
law enforcement is also battling. In 1998, there were
approximately 3,000 such images on the internet. This past year,
the number has spiraled to 33 million, he said.
“It just shows you how exponentially all this stuff has grown,”
Dart said.
It’s also a myth that such crimes don’t happen close to home.
“The vast majority, I’m talking 90-95% of the people that are
involved in trafficking, are local people, trafficking local
people, and it’s going on all around us,” Dart said.
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