“It’s horrific what’s being to done to these children” — Prosecutors Act to Address Rising Internet Crimes Against Children
The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has seen a 33% increase in the number of cases filed involving internet crimes against children — and there are still three weeks left in 2020.
As of Monday, Dec. 7, the our office filed 64 cases involving internet crimes against children. That’s compared to 48 filed in all of 2019.
Those totals include four crime types: Dealing in depictions of a minor in sexually explicit conduct; possessing that material; sending or bringing that into the state; or viewing depictions of a minor in sexually explicit conduct.
“It’s horrific what’s being to done to these children” — Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Laura Harmon
The state of Washington gets about 150 of these cases each day, statewide. The Seattle Police Department is the clearing house for the state. Prior to the pandemic and people staying at home, those numbers were often less than 100. Those tips are handled by police, and completed investigations for King County are referred to our office.
“We’ve seen an uptick of filed cases this year, likely because more people are at home and on the internet — both children and offenders — which has created a perfect storm for offenders to seek out children and other offenders.” — Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Laura Harmon
The PAO has been working nonstop on these cases so that they are charged quickly and efficiently. We’ve also prepared some basic tips and resources to help parents keep kids safe online:
Tips for Keeping Children Safe on the Internet: Have An Open & Honest Conversation About Internet Safety
- Step #1 Make sure kids know who they are talking to online and aren’t interacting with or meeting up with strangers. Knowing someone from school is one thing, but if it’s just some person on the internet there is no way of knowing who or where they are, or what their intentions are. Offenders frequently lie about their age online so they can talk to minors, and then try to solicit images or meet in person. If young people are talking to strangers because they are a gamer and that’s part of their hobby, that’s fine, just make sure kids aren’t sending pictures, sharing private information (for example Snapchat has a geolocation feature that allows people see your location), or planning to meet up in person.
- Step #2 Be aware of what your kids are doing online, whether that’s through settings on their devices or looking through their devices to know what platforms they are on and what they are talking about.
- The combination of these two steps are the best way to keep your kids safe on the internet.
- The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has even more tips, including a video game kids can play to learn about internet safety.
Additional Resources
- Here’s an in-depth analysis of the crimes from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (with graphs).
- This report has additional data from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (with graphs).
- Data about child victims can be found here from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
