Officials aim to find ways to better fight cyber crime

By Jared Hoffmann

Local law enforcement officials are hopeful state legislators will eventually allocate more resources to investigate and prevent online sex crimes.

Several members of the Platte County Sheriff’s Office gathered with other law enforcement officials from across Missouri at a summit in Jefferson City last month to discuss ways of enhancing the investigation and prosecution of Internet-related crimes. Specifically, the group focused on legislative recommendations to expand capabilities of investigating online sex crimes targeted toward children.

Capt. Paul Carrill, commander of the Western Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force, said one of the recommendations was to request more state funding to hire additional task force members and implement advanced training. Carrill said the task force had six full-time investigators from nine surrounding counties. He said the goal was to add five additional investigators this year with the eventual creation of two to four more regional task forces. Other recommendations generated at the summit included expanding the Internet Cyber Crime Grant program, which provides funding for the task force, and looking for potential permanent funding sources.

“The focus of the entire summit was to look at what Missouri can do with its resources and how everybody can get on the same page for investigating cyber crimes,” Carrill said. “Platte County will benefit immensely from it.”

A list of legislative recommendations was produced based on the discussions held at the summit. Among those recommendations were topics geared specifically toward supporting the prosecution of Internet crimes.

Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd said harsher sentencing for individuals convicted of possessing or producing child pornography was among the recommendations discussed at the summit. In a state that already touts stringent laws against child sex crimes, Zahnd said those two specific charges did not impose harsh enough penalties.

“Jessica’s Law did not affect production of and possession of child pornography,” Zahnd said. “This is legislation that really needs to get passed.”

Zahnd said other recommendations would expand funding to hire prosecutors that would work exclusively with investigators on Internet crime cases.

Other recommendations included mandating Internet safety classes for public and private schools, generating more public awareness, expanding the charge of furnishing pornography to a child to include obscene cell phone calls and other media communication and establishing minimum incarceration time for distributing child pornography.

For more information about ways to keep children safe while using the Internet or to have an officer speak at a community event, call Capt. Paul Carrill at 858-2424.

Staff writer Jared Hoffmann can be reached at 389-6636 or jaredhoffmann@npgco.com.