A Brief History
On November 14, 2013, Canadian law enforcement struck a major blow against child exploitation when the outcome of Project Spade, a three-year operation which resulted in the international arrests of 348 criminals and the rescue of 383 exploited children and child sex slaves, was officially made public.
Digging Deeper
The operation began when the Toronto police got wind of a purveyor of child pornography and grew to involve the law enforcement agencies of 50 countries. Of the children rescued, 330 came from the United States. Oftentimes the children were filmed running and playing naked rather than engaging in sexual acts. Some of the videos and still images, however, depicted children in sexually explicit poses. Unfortunately, there was also a large body of material that consisted of children being subjected to horrific sexual assault. In all, an incredible 45 terabytes of explicit kiddie porn was seized in the operation!
The mother of the original offender in Toronto is on the lam, wanted for her involvement. Among those arrested were pillars of the community, such as doctors and nurses, ministers, teachers and at least one police officer and one baseball coach. Even foster parents were arrested! Ryan Loskarn, chief of staff to U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander, was among those swept up in the arrests. He ended up hanging himself in January of 2014, leaving a suicide note in which he blamed his own childhood sexual abuse for his attraction to child pornography.
If you have ever watched the NBC television show To Catch A Predator, you are well aware that there are adults out there, out here, among us, everywhere, who more than willing to sexually exploit children. If you ever have reason to believe that someone might be up to no good in regard to children, please report it to your local police.
Question for students (and subscribers): Have you ever watched To Catch A Predator? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Hansen, Chris. To Catch a Predator: Protecting Your Kids from Online Enemies Already in Your Home. Plume, 2007.