June 2006 Newsletter
Predators
Daily in our state there is a report of a child, an adult, or even a whole neighborhood of children who have been victimized by a sexual predator who has been living among us. Please don’t be complacent. It does happen here. The child sexual abuse and pornography crimes which occur here were the biggest shock of my police career. I thought I knew of the dangers out there. My perceptions changed when I became a detective and had to investigate these cases. These types of cases have gotten worse, not better.
There seem to be more deviant people in our society than ever before. The availability of pornography, drug and substance abuse, and a lack of respect for decency and personal rights, are causing more sexual crimes than ever before.
Having the Internet is like having the key to the largest library on earth. But we need to remember that there are bad things that are hiding out there in cyber-space and they are just looking for a chance to get into your home.
You know, we all have electricity in our homes. It’s a standard feature of construction today. It’s such a great tool for some many uses. But even though it’s there and we use it all the time, we don’t let our children play with it unsupervised. That’s because we all recognize that it can be dangerous. We guide our children around it and teach them at the youngest ages to be safe near it. We would never expose our children to something so dangerous and leave them to navigate their own way. But what are we doing with their access to the internet? The very best filters for computer content are free and you already have them. Their names are Mom and Dad!
As adults we know that there are Weirdo’s out there, and yes, that is an official police term. Talk with your children about who they are chatting with. Explain your concerns to them and get the computer out of their bedroom and put it in a public area of the home where everyone can see what’s going on.
The reason that I’ve chosen this topic for this month is that the Police Department has been involved recently in some very serious cases involving the sexual exploitation of minors and the possession and downloading of hardcore child pornography. These items came into our community through the internet. At the time of this writing, we have an individual in jail for crimes associated with addiction to these materials. He has confessed to us many crimes which he has allegedly carried out against children in our community. He has specifically talked about crimes which he has committed in the last 3 or 4 years in and around the foothill areas above Pleasant Grove and Lindon. He claims to have victimized kids that he located playing or hiking in the foothills. I honestly don’t know if he is telling the truth or if he is in some sick way getting a thrill by telling us stories. The reason that I’m unsure is because he is talking about major violent crimes. We have not had any victims report such crimes to us.
I am asking for your assistance at this time. If you are truly aware of any such crimes occurring in the past several years in the foothill areas of our communities, in which children were victimized, or if you are one of those children and wish to report your crime, please contact us at the Police Department at #801-785-3506. You can speak to me, or Lt. Clark Nielsen , Sgt Mike Roberts, or Detective Britt Smith.
Captain Cody Cullimore, Pleasant Grove/Lindon Police Department
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