The St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office Cyber Crimes Unit is back and, unfortunately, it’s because of popular demand.
“More crimes are being committed ‘cyber-ly,’” said Jack.
“It’s non-stop,” said Jill.
The two officers began their work in October after the sheriff’s office had gone several years without a specific Internet crime division. Although their jurisdiction includes identity theft and other variations of Internet fraud, the bulk of their work is in child exploitation and pornography, for which they’ve already made three arrests in the parish.
“Part of our work is, we act as 14-year-old children in open chat rooms,” Jill said.
It usually isn’t that simple, though.
“They (the investigations) can last anywhere from two days to two years,” Jill said. “It’s not illegal for a 46-year-old to chat with a 10-year-old. And of course, you can’t entrap them. They have to come to you.”
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