Virginia hopes to have recommendations in hand by the end of the year on how to better deal with online sexual predators.
A Youth Internet Safety Task Force set up by Commonwealth Attorney General Bob McDonnell held its first meeting Friday in Alexandria at the national headquarters of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. This group — composed of technology industry representatives and local, state and federal officials — is expected to deliver a report on how to combat Web-based sex criminals by December.
McDonnell said he formed the task force so his office could learn how sex offenders behave online, and how to educate children and parents on avoiding them.
“What do we do about the new frontier of people committing sex crimes against children over the Internet?” he asked. “We don’t really have the tools in place to make a difference.”
Because the phenomenon of adults hunting children online is relatively new, McDonnell said, representatives from powerful technology companies such as Google, MySpace.com and Yahoo! were included on the panel to update law enforcement officials on the latest methods of communicating over the Internet.
“You have to have all the right people at the table in order to get a comprehensive approach,” McDonnell said.
The task force is set to meet three more times before delivering its recommendations to McDonnell. He said he expects recommendations on how to strengthen sex crime laws, as well as suggestions on educational programs for children and parents.
McDonnell said educating parents is key — many do not know how children are communicating online, or if their children are being solicited by potential offenders.
“Very little of this is being reported to parents,” he said.
Virginia State Police Senior Special Agent Maurice Anderson agreed the task force is needed to inform government of what is needed to stop sex crimes against children.
“There are limited resources to monitor sex offenders,” he said. “You need a partnership between the private and public sector.”
