Internet Pornography Brought Home To Cerritos Optimist Club

By Jerry Bernstein

Lt. Andrea H. Grossman and Det. Monica Quijano of the Los Angeles Police Departments Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. She said people who are into Internet pornography are across the board. The can be business leaders, doctors, rabbis, priests, school teachers, city council members and the average John Doe. She said they have good jobs, are well educated and have good computers.,
She said they were checking their monitors recently and found there are 122 people in Cerritos dealing in child pornography on the Internet. “This was in the middle of the day,” she added.
Det. Quijano said she has been with the Los Angeles Police Department for 22 years and Lt. Grossman 23 years. She said they work under a larger umbrella, the Juvenile Division. The Division handles all child crimes. She said they were in charge of the task force, one of 51 task forces in the United States. She said they were responsible for five counties: Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara and Ventura.
She said they couldn’t be every place at once, so one of the things they do is a train local agency such as police departments sheriff departments. District attorneys, as well as some judges.
Lt. Grossman explained the judges are sent to the University of Mississippi that has its own program. She said under the provisions of the Department’s Grant we don’t want to look like we’re pushing the judges in one direction. This is so the judges will understand the computer term they will see in court. They will have to understand what the hash value is. If you don’t know what the hash value is you won’t know that each computer picture is unique. The tier we do is community.
She said with so many bad guys, it’s difficult for them to get out into the community. She said they “kick three door in a week,” meaning they we have three search warrants where we find someone behind the computer that shouldn’t be. She said there are so many people doing this, it would surprise you. “The people who do this would surprise you, “she said. “We have a boy scout scoutmaster, “
Quijano asked how many in the room consider themselves technically savvy? How many dabble and check e-mail. Has anybody got those PDA’s-smart phones? Obviously we have to become acclimated with technology. It’s a way of life,” she added. She said students do their school assignments on-line. It’s one of those things where the kids are educated in computer science early on. “Our kids are going to be educated. They’re going to know how to download, trade, and go into the free web sites, so it’s important that we educate the parents as well.
She added not only do we have to teach the children the dangers of going into unsecured websites where predators are located. We have to train the parents a well. A lot of time parents feel they don’t have the right to restrict their children do on line. “And by all means they do.” She said we have all the counties on board except Orange County. Why they won’t join us we don’t know. The training is free
Det. Grossman said last Sunday she was home when her cell phone rang. It seemed a mom was looking at her daughter’s new I-pad and pressed the wrong button and found out a 37 year old man was flying from Florida to have sex with her daughter. We assumed the girl’s identity and made an arrest.
Quijano said that have 10 investigators that handle the crimes within the city of Los Angeles. And we still handle cases in Orange County, San Bernardino and Santa Barbara if we can’t find a municipal agency to get on the case. They said school children are vulnerable. The take computers home to do homework and use them in classrooms, with little supervision by teachers and parents. They assume they are working on an assignment. If the teacher walks toward them, they can easily punch into their assignment. They said in order for them to go onto a school campus, they have to be invited.