Ratchet Page
Not an Internet Crime Says Law Enforcement Official Dealing With the
Investigation
By Diana L.
Chapman
Images that blossomed on Facebook pages of
"ratchet" girls in the Harbor Area in early December were not
criminal and were considered child "erotica," rather than
pornography, says a lead investigator who heads a regional task force that
deals with internet crime against children.
However, Los
Angeles Police Lt. Andrea Grossman reported it as cyberbullying to Facebook and
the company removed those sites within one hour of her call.
No penal
codes applied in this instance, Grossman explained.
"It's
not a criminal act," said Grossman, who heads the regional ICAC, Internet
Crimes Against Children, a multi-agency task force of local, state and federal
law enforcement officers. "We looked at the site. It was child erotica.
That is not illegal.
"It's
not (child) pornography," which is a crime, she explained.
Grossman says the Facebook sites that appeared
around Dec. 2 using students images, some of scantily clad girls from San Pedro
and Banning High Schools, did appear to
be "pure cyberbullying"; However, currently no laws exist to make it a crime or to give the agency teeth to force internet companies, such as My Space or Facebook, to pull such sites down.
Facebook,
however, was fully cooperative, she said.
"We
can't force them to take down the sites," Grossmann said. "It's up to
Facebook. But once I contacted Facebook, they responded in one hour which is
pretty good time."
Grossman's
task force covers five counties: Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Orange
and San Bernadino. Crimes involving children on the internet, Grossman said,
should be reported immediately to the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children which acts like a clearing house for such crimes and alerts local
authorities in charge. For instance, if an internet pornography complaint came
in to the National Center involving a child in San Pedro, Grossman said, her
task force would be notified to investigate immediately.
The task force also must report back to the
center as to what happened with the case.
The local
issue erupted when the internet group San Pedro California began complaining
about the sites saying they had "offensive," demeaning, and abusive
photographs of girls from the area along with derogatory comments.
Those
commenting on the sites called some of the girls "hos" (whores) or
claimed that some girls gave sex freely. While many in the California group
reported their concerns to Facebook via the internet, the sites remained up until
Los Angeles Councilman Joe Buscaino took a stance and called in Grossman's task
force and other agencies to try and force their shut down.
Facebook
removed San Pedro Rachets, Wilmington Rachets and San Pedro Hotties from their
pages, agreeing with Grossman and many of its complaining users that cyberbullying
had occurred which goes against Facebook policies. Rachets, according to the
Urban Dictionary, are a "diva, mostly from urban cities and ghettos, that
has reason to believe she is every man's eye candy. Unfortunately, she's
wrong."
Buscaino,
known for working closely with teens when he was an LAPD officer, said he considered
the pages slanderous and abusive.
While no
laws exist now regarding cyberbullying, Grossman said, there are other laws
that might fit but didn't work in this case. Laws specifically against
cyberbullying eventually might be implemented, she said, especially since the
topic has riveted the nation after several youths committed suicide who became victims
of internet attacks.
The Internet
Crimes Against Children is a federally funded agency that formed 61 national teams devoted to fight child exploitation
via the internet and offers "reactive, proactive, and forensic
investigations and criminal investigations," its site reports.
Since its
formation in 1998, the task forces have dealt with 280,000 complaints of
alleged sex abuse against children and led to 30,000 arrests, according to the
national Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
The beauty
of these agencies, Grossman added, is that internet crime is
"everywhere," and it's not something that the Los Angeles police can
deal with alone. Agencies had to join together to be effective, she said.
The program
offers training to agencies that might be involved including schools, Grossman
said. In this instance the schools, Banning High and San Pedro High, would be
responsible to carry out further investigation of who the perpetrators were
that put up the sites.
Internet
users who believe they have concerns of child exploitation on the internet can
report it too www.missingkids.com or call 1-800-843-5678.
