Crimes Against Children Digest 8-18-15

Even federal employees are harming children.
Former Analyst Sentenced for Downloading Child Pornography on DEA Computer

Del Rio Man Arrested on Federal Cyberstalking and Child Pornography Charges  

Independence Police Detective Honored for Child Pornography Investigation

Okanogan Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Federal Prison for Possession of Child Pornography Images 

This is a sad, sick story.
Iowa Couple Sentenced to 40 Years for Kidnapping, Sex Trafficking, and Torturing a Young Woman   

Albany County Man Pleads Guilty to Receipt and Possession of Child Pornography 

Milwaukee Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Receiving Child Pornography 

This is becoming a favorite tactic for predators, 'sextortion'.  A predator will find a "hook" on a vulnerable teen and use it to blackmail the child into more and more depraved things.
Sex Offender from California Sentenced to 30 Years for Coercing a Kentucky Teenager to Send Sexually Explicit Photos of Herself 

Choctaw Woman Sentenced to Prison for Abusive Sexual Contact with a Minor 

Jefferson City Man Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography Charges 

Non-Indian Physician Employed by Indian Health Services Pleads Guilty to Federal Child Pornography Charge     

Back to School - Time to Review Your Emergency Plans

I've posted a blog on emergency plan reviews in the Safe Havens International blog HERE.

Take a look.  It will help you review your plans.  There's no time like the present!

Crimes against Children Digest 8-10-15

Child pornography is insidious, evil, and wrong.  It is pervasive, and something to which most people will turn a blind eye.  Don't be that person!


Rochester Man Sentenced on Child Pornography Charges 

Pawtucket Man Sentenced to 12 Years in Federal Prison for Sex Trafficking  

Jury Convicts Albany County Man of Producing Child Pornography 

Rochester Man Sentenced in Plot to Murder a Witness in Sex Trafficking Case 

Los Lunas Man Charged with Federal Production and Possession of Child Pornography Offenses

Garland, Texas Man Faces 20 Years in Federal Prison on Child Pornography Conviction 

Navajo Man Pleads Guilty to Discharging Firearm While Assaulting Four Indian Women and Two Children 

Sparks, Nevada Man Sentenced to More Than 17 Years in Federal Prison for Child Pornography Crime 

Two Individuals Plead Guilty to Transporting an Individual with the Intent That She Engage in Prostitution        

Washington, D.C. Man Convicted of Carjacking of a Pregnant Annapolis Woman  

Crimes against Children Digest 8-5-15

Crimes against children can take many forms.  Child sex trafficking, abuse, sexual abuse, child pornography are just a few of the many forms.  Learn to recognize the signs so you can intervene before the child is irretrievably damaged.

Sullivan County Man Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison for Attempting to Entice a Minor to Engage in Sexual Activity 

Fort Thompson Man Sentenced for Abusive Sexual Contact  

Branson EMT Pleads Guilty to Producing Child Pornography 

Holyoke Man Charged with Possessing Child Pornography 

Former Kincheloe Resident Tommy Alan Cain Sentenced for Sexual Assault of a Minor 

Fort Yates Man Sentenced for Sexual Abuse of a Minor 

Las Vegas Man Sentenced to More Than 17 Years in Prison for Interstate Transportation of a 16-Year-Old for Sex 

Fall River Man Sentenced for Child Pornography Offenses 

Jacksonville Man Arrested and Charged with Receiving Child Pornography Over the Internet 

Federal Grand Jury Indicts Lauderdale County Man for Distributing and Possessing Child Pornography         

Crimes against Children 7-24-15

It has been awhile.  My inbox has been piling up with news stories about people harming children.  It saddens and angers me that there are so many stories and yet it steels my resolve, as I know that this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Clermont Man Sentenced to More Than 16 Years for Transporting Child Pornography Over the Internet 

Charleston Man Receives 30 Months for Child Pornography Possession  

East St. Louis Man Indicted for Child Sex Trafficking 

Louisiana Woman Indicted for Child Sex Trafficking

Three Ohio Men Indicted for the Production or Possession of Child Pornography 

Houston Woman Gets 17 Years for Multiple Child Pornography Convictions 

Modesto Man Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison for Production of Child Pornography and Attempted Sex Trafficking of a Minor 

Former Houston Charter School Officials Charged with Bilking School of Millions 

Federal Jury Finds Ville Platte Man Guilty of Possessing, Receiving Child Pornography 

Albuquerque Man Arrested on Federal Child Pornography Charges         

Tactical Thinking in Non-Tactical Environments

Tactical Thinking

This July, I will be presenting at the Campus Safety National Forum in Chicago (Follow them on Twitter @CampusSafetyEvents).  I will be presenting on Tactical Thinking in Non-Tactical Environments.  This presentation is anyone who works in a place of business that is not normally involved in making tactical decision.

Tactics refers to things people do in a crisis.  It's a way of doing things.  For example, when driving in snow and your car begins to slide, many drivers use the tactic of steering into the slide with the goal of preventing a crash.  This concept can be extended into non-crisis situations, but for the moment we'll stick to crisis situations.

There may be much discussion about tactics in schools, and often these discussions lose sight of the big picture.  Before Columbine, the tactics used by many police agencies involved establishing a perimeter and waiting for SWAT teams.  After Columbine police tactics shifted to a more aggressive role for police, using a team entry approach to active shooters.  Since the Sandy Hook massacre, there is more of an emphasis on single man entry, as experience has shown us that shooters will continue to shoot until they meet resistance.  At that point they often kill themselves, ending the incident.

Around the country, law enforcement officers are training schools in responding to Active Shooters.  I have much respect for law enforcement, and I count many of them among my friends.  However, I think they have lost sight of the big picture, which involves their target audience.  This is the people who work in in non-tactical environments.

Harris and Klebold in the Columbine cafeteria

 

 

 

 

 

Non-Tactical Environments

Non-tactical environments refers to work or living spaces that do not, as their primary focus, utilize combat tactics.  This specifically refers to K-12 facilities, institutes of higher learning, hospitals, and mundane work places.

As an Indiana School Safety Specialist, I focus on K-12 institutions, but the ideas here apply to any non-tactical environment, with adaptations specific to that work space. 

Educators, as a group, are different from other people.  They tend to be nurturing, supportive people to whom the idea of personal violence is abhorrent.  As such, they want to feel safe as much as the kids do.

Into this type of argument comes law enforcement officers with training that shocks and frightens educators.  They listen as the tactics are presented, and train in using them, but that training does not fundamentally alter who they are.  They will say, "This was really good training!  Everyone needs this!"  Yet when they go back to their classrooms, the daily demands of their non-tactical world soon overtake, then replace the tactical thinking with less terrifying, comfortable non-tactical thinking.

LTC Dave Grossman, in his On Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdogs analogy, describes the interaction between Sheep and Sheepdogs.  "The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence."  Yet we still go into schools and try to treat them like Sheepdogs, hoping they will become Sheepdogs.

Grossman writes, "They do not want to believe that there is evil in the world....The idea of someone coming to kill or harm their children is just too hard, so they choose the path of denial."

If we are to train educators correctly, we have to train them where they are.  We have to know our target audience and adjust to them.   We need to find a way to teach them to think tactically in non-tactical environments. 
#CampusSafety
#CSC2015 
#CampusSafetyCHI

School Safety is a Community Effort

In my last blog, I wrote about "see something, say something", as I saw a drug deal and called the police.  This concept is at the heart of today's blog post.

Community Effort

Keeping a school safe in today's world is not the job of law enforcement, or the fire department, or of people trained in school safety.  It's the job of everyone in the community, including those who do not have children in school.  The massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary showed us the damage that cane be done to a community when children are killed.  Therefore each and every member of the community has a stake in school safety.

Everyone does not need to do the same thing.  Fire fighters are different from police officers.  They do different types of jobs.  Along those lines, people can do different things.  The least that people can do is "see something, say something".

See Something, Say Something

People see things everyday that should be brought to the attention of someone.  However, for numerous reasons, they don't think to say anything.  Gavin de Becker wrote an excellent book, The Gift of Fear.  In it he explores the power of intuition in keeping people safe.  Too often people dismiss their intuition, leading to bad things.

People do this out of fear.  Fear of being wrong, fear of looking "silly", or any number of other fears.  These fears often prevent us from taking actions that we know, deep down, to be the right ones.  As a community, we have to identify these fears, face them, and do whatever needs to be done to keep our children safe.

Children are, indeed, our future.