DETECTIVE WARNS OF INTERNET DANGERS TO KIDS

When sexual predators and pedophiles targeted young children, it used to mean they ran the risk of being seen in public where children are found.

That isn't true anymore. With advent of the Internet, the popularity of chat rooms and instant messages, sexual predators can find children without leaving their homes.

"It used to be that when they wanted a child they went to where the child was. Now they go out to the virtual park," said Detective Mike Sullivan of the Naperville, Ill., Police Department.

Sullivan spoke Tuesday night to law enforcement officials, teachers and interested parents about Internet crimes. The lecture was part of Criminal Justice Day activities at Southeast Missouri State University.

Sullivan also will speak to university and high school students and area law enforcement agencies today at noon about the rise in Internet crimes.

"Any crime that you can commit with another type of weapon, you can commit using the Internet," Sullivan said.

Police often use Internet subscriber information to trace criminals after they've committed a crime. Information about their Internet provider, phone line use or account numbers can help police track down a suspect.

Although Sullivan jokes about only catching the "stupid ones" because police are learning as they go, he also knows the potential exists for serious crimes.

Since Sullivan has been working with the Illinois attorney general on a task force on child pornography and Internet investigations, he has arrested hundreds of people.

Most of the sex crime offenders who use the Web are men between the ages of 30 and 50 who are employed and have a middle-class standard of living. "We've arrested Ph.Ds, priests, ministers and every category of the military," Sullivan said.

When the task force began in 1994, the group applied for a federal grant and predicted it would have eight cases with five arrests and five property seizures.

Instead there were 80 cases, 20 arrests and 17 instances where police seized computer equipment and devices used to transmit child pornography on the Internet.

"We missed it by a mile," Sullivan admits. "There are a lot more out there than we thought. As we allow more access, then there has to be a larger police force out there."

Sullivan already knows who most of the offenders are; he talks to many of them. As a lead investigator for the Naperville police, he often disguises himself as a child when browsing or chatting online. Eighty percent of the time he is online Sullivan pretends to be between the ages of 8 and 13 and is usually a girl.

"I'd rather they talk to me any day than have them talk to any child," he said.

Knowing just how easy it is for predators and pedophiles to find children online is frightening, said Linda Ferrell of Jackson. She has three children who fall into the category of "computer experts."

"They can already outsmart me, and we are supposed to be outsmarting the criminal," she said.

Ferrell came to hear Sullivan speak so she could learn more about how to protect her privacy and her children.

You think that when you get software, you will be protected, said Joyce Becker, who realized after Sullivan spoke that that isn't always the case.

Some software packages designed to help block profanity and pornography might only work with a particular browser. Sullivan suggested finding a software program that filters the content of a site.

He also suggests creating an online contract between parent and child so that both know the rules and responsibilities for Internet use.

Children often don't think that people they chat with once or twice on the Internet are really strangers. They've shared information and become friends. But "people you talk to online are still strangers," Sullivan said.

As children become more computer savvy, they need the street smarts that go along with it so they can protect themselves from harm, he said.

In his work as a detective, Sullivan helped develop a booklet of information that offers tips on how to teach children about the dangers of Internet predators. It can be found online at www.microsoft.com/safekids