The internet has become a powerful tool for law enforcement to proactively fight crime.
According to Undersheriff Eric Denning, the Blaine County Sheriff’s Office, working with other law enforcement agencies, used training from a non-profit organization called Skull Games to mount a prostitution sting in Watonga.
The training teaches officers to use open source information on the internet via pubic websites to locate people who are victims of human trafficking.
Denning said many times those victims of human traffickers are forced into prostitution.
The training focuses on three goals – identify predators and their prey, interdict predators for either pleasure or profit, and empower communities with purpose.
Interdiction was at the forefront of the Watonga operation. On internet sites for escort services, all open to public viewing, officers posed as escorts offering services in Watonga.
When they were contacted by computer for those services, the officers arranged to meet the customers at a local motel. When the would-be customers arrived and exited their vehicles, they were arrested. There were no sex workers involved.
Denning also pointed out that all contact was easily accomplished with a home computer or cell phone.
Skull Games shows on its website that it identifies predators so that law enforcement can break the cycle of exploitation and help the victims find lives of freedom. By Skull Games helping police achieve arrests and prosecution, departments are able to be effective and efficient in instituting counter-trafficking operations.
Two arrests were made in one afternoon.