Police child sex crimes unit in Colorado city of Aurora overwhelmed by tips
If it seems like there have been more arrests for internet crimes against children lately, it's because there probably have been. According to the Aurora Police Department, nationwide tips of child sexual exploitation and extortion have increased since 2020. They certainly have seen an increase in tips in their Colorado community.
The increase is in part because of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children's Cyber Tip Line. It's made for a lot of difficult work for Aurora Police Internet Crimes Against Children team.
Essentially, once a predator transmits a known exploitative image of a child online, service providers flag it and send the internet user's information to investigators. That's where APD's work begins.
"We issue our search warrant; we go and seize all the devices. And while reviewing the devices, we find images and videos of children that the suspect knows and that live in our community, that they've sexually assaulted," said Aurora Police Sgt. Joseph Sullivan.
The Aurora Police Internet Crimes Against Children team has made three high-profile arrests in one month.
The most recent was 52-year-old Michael Ray Lozano. He had several terabytes of exploitation content.
"There's no one more innocent in our society than children," said Sullivan. "This is a dark corner of humanity that people know exist. But they don't want to face the reality that it really does exist."
Sullivan says the system is so good that they have seen an explosion of leads and therefore an explosion of cases and a backlog.
"So, the volume is hindering us," said Sullivan.
He says the job can be taxing.
"The work that we do is horrendous. But the glimmer of hope is the ability to arrest them and put them in jail," said Sullivan.
He says his team supports each other and gets mental health services through the department. But he says they really need help from the justice system because many of the people they arrest get out of prison.
For example, Michael Ray Lozano is already out on bond just one week after being arrested.
"I understand the cost value. I understand the incarceration concepts, I understand that, but there's nothing that we can do to fix these individuals. They are they're going to prey on our children," said Sullivan.
He says to keep your family safe, the first line of defense is at home. He says be involved in your kids' lives and aware of what your kids are doing online as best as possible. That includes on social media, chats, website and video games, because predators are really good at getting to kids and making them victims.
