What Lawyers Should Know About Internet Predators
Ada Brown
Dallas Bar Association Headnotes
September 2005
For the past three years I have prosecuted Texas’ most vile and despicable criminals: those who create and disseminate images of children being molested and who hunt child victims using the Internet. From this experience, I offer the following tips to safeguard your own children and watch for signs in your workplace.
The Predators: Imagine the stereotypical Hollywood criminal: A heavy Neanderthal brow, tattoos up both arms, glaring at jurors as they shuffle into the jury box, and if the actor playing the prosecutor is really lucky, the defendant will be muttering expletives at the fact-finder throughout his trial. That is not the guy I prosecute. Now imagine Ward Cleaver. He is the Internet predator. I have prosecuted two police officers, three teachers, a little league umpire, a disc jockey, a physician, a priest, and countless white-collar businessmen for committing Internet crimes against children. My average defendant is an upper-middle-class married man with 2.5 kids, a nice house and no criminal record. He does not loiter conspicuously at playgrounds; he finds legitimate means to be near children. Other than being a secret pedophile, he is a “great guy,” and he is seen as a beacon of respectability in his community.
It may surprise you to know that most of my defendants commit their crimes at work, not at home. As employers and co-workers, there are a few simple actions your firm can take to help protect children online, and to protect your law firm's hard-earned reputation.
Sign on the Dotted Line: Consider requiring each employee to sign a written policy explicitly stating that he or she understands that downloading or exchanging files or e-mail containing sexual content, or using the computer to facilitate commission of any crime is grounds for immediate termination. Employers might also want to follow up by sending an occasional e-mail reminder of this policy. A written policy and an employee-signed acknowledgement not only aid in the prosecution of Internet predators, they also send a zero-tolerance message, and simplify any future termination issues for the employer. Also, if your firm does not currently have a filter in place that prohibits workers from accessing inappropriate Web sites, your IT department should be able to set up such a program rather easily. These very basic actions will go a long way toward deterring all but the boldest Internet predators from using work computers to commit crimes.
Chat Programs: Instant message programs are the No. 1 tool that Internet predators use to trade child pornography and to contact children while at work. Law firms should consider creating policies excluding instant message chat programs from being operated from work computers. Most legitimate business can easily be done in person, by e-mail or by telephone.
Track After-Hours Visits: Many Internet predators return to work after hours to download and print child pornography, and to communicate with minors away from the watchful eyes of their spouses or co-workers. Tracking what time and what computer each individual uses is a great way to deter use of your computers in the commission of crimes. Encourage co-workers to use screensaver passwords since predators will frequently choose to use a co-worker’s computer after-hours to evade detection.
The New Neighborhood Watch: Most co-workers of defendants are not surprised when a suspect is arrested, because they had suspected misconduct for some time. I frequently hear about how quickly a defendant would close out the images on his computer screen each time someone approached his desk, or that the co-workers noticed that someone else had been using their computers after-hours, but they never voiced their concerns. Please encourage co-workers to report any suspicious behavior.
Rethink Photos and Bios on the Internet: Many lawyers post photos of their children and mention their children by name on their company’s Web sites or family home pages. Does the public really need to know you have kids? If so, why not just list the number of children that you have? Convicted sex offender Dean Schwartzmiller kept a catalog of 36,000 children’s names. Do not let your child become one of the hunted, nor let your firm become a hunting ground.