CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The start of the new school year is an especially busy time for the the Corpus Christi Police Department's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
Det. Alicia Escobar, one of the unit's detectives, said right now, they're averaging a search warrant a week at local residences.
"More often than not the offenders are here in Corpus Christi, along with our children victims."
She explained what she sees most often among our local youth is that they are meeting people online who they do not know. From there, harmful communication ensues.
"It continues to go on until it becomes sextortion and that’s the cases that have taken a huge increase is our sextortion cases," she said.
And the ages of the victims vary.
"We've seen them as young as 5," she said. "Oftentimes we are finding them through cyber tips, where the offenders are actually communicating with another child victim here in Corpus, and when we get to that home, we find that there are actual child victims within that home."
Escobar said the most common form of communication among our local youth is social media. Apps that have been flagged for her department include Snapchat and Telegram because of how quickly the messages can disappear, but she also pointed out a feature that all iPhones have that has also become a problem: AirDropping.
"A lot of times what we have seen in our older children is that they’re communicating with each other, sending sexually explicit images of themselves," she said, adding that what these teens don't always realize at their age is that once those photos are received, the recipients are now in possession of child pornography, which is a felony.
She explains why this time of year, the start of a new school year, often brings with it more cases.
"Kids are now getting together with their friends, they’re getting new boyfriends or girlfriends and they’re actually -- that device is with them throughout the school day and they’re sending sexually explicit images at school," she said.
She spoke with us about a recent case that came up for the task force in which a minor was uploading explicit photos to his social media account, specifically Snapchat.
That case led her department to his family home, in which they had to explain not just to him what he was doing wrong, but to his parents.
"We were able to, at that point, notify him of what his illegal actions were but to also contact the parent and make them aware of what their child was doing on their social-media account," she said.
So, in a day and age where technology is so easily accessible by children of all ages, what are some red flags parents should watch for?
According to Escobar, here's what some of those look like:
- When children are withdrawing themselves from family activities
- Teens going into the room or bathroom with their phone, the moment they receive a notification
- Children communicating less or checking out completely at regular family gatherings
These are some signs to watch for and ask your child about. Try to offer a comfortable space, security and understanding, because they may not realize the severity of what is happening.
However, Escobar does warn that if parents do realize something potentially dangerous is happening, here is what they should not do:
"The one thing they shouldn't do is get on that device and communicate like they are the offender or as the mad parent to say ‘I'm gonna call the police, we’re gonna have the police come and get you,' " she said "Anything like that, because then it hinders our ability to apprehend the offender."
If you, as a parent or guardian, have concerns that someone may be trying to engage in harmful and illegal communication with your child, you're encouraged to call police immediately.
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