Teen Trains Cops to be "1337"

Teen Trains Cops to be "1337"

December 17, 2006
With the rise in popularity of online games, Internet predators are increasingly turning to the world of multiplayer in order to locate potential young victims.

In at least one jurisdiction, police have found a new tool to help catch such online pedophiles.

Salt Lake City's KUTV-2 reports that officers from the local P.D.'s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force have recruited a 15-year-old gamer named Zach to help them to navigate the world of online gaming.

Officer Ken Wallentine from the task force explained:
We are adults and we are not great gamers so we didn't know what we are doing so we brought in an expert.

As the resident expert gamer, Zach performs all sorts of tasks, from leveling up characters so that officers can pose as regular gamers, to teaching officers net lingo such as LOL, ROFL, and the meaning of "noob".

Zach himself doesn't make contact with sexual predators, but he is an important aid to officers as they attempt to pose as minors during online stings. At a recent awards banquet, Attorney General Mark Shurtleff presented Zach with a plaque honoring his work with the Salt Lake City police.

For Zach, the reward is in a good day's work, helping to catch online bad guys:
I think they are, like, dirt bags... I don't care for them at all should all just be behind bars.

By the way, if the "1337" in the headline confuses you, click here for an explanation.

- Reporting from Canada, GP Correspondent Colin "Jabrwock" McInnes
Posted in

Comments

While i do agree that people need to be more careful with there info (If you don't want them to find you don't put your age and adress on there dumbass) I think this is a great idea.
My question is why the recent hype over l33t?
Remember that news segment a while back? Now this, I wondering if some higher-up didn't just hear someone use the term l33t and pick up a catch phrase. It kind of smacks of some old man in a corner office trying to relate or 'stay current' as my boss is so fond of saying.
I only wonder this as I am have been playing online games for a while, a long while, and back in the day the game of choice was anything with a missile launcher, which means that I learned l33t as a meas of speaking without removing my hands from the safety of the wasd zone for very long. And like most gamers of that time I can safely say that I speak the uber 1337. But anymore when you go into a game and bust out the m@d l33t s|
I could do this job!

This article unaided could do this job.
I'm kinda glad that the officers are somewhat following the tracks of the predators, though now they need to follow those steps into Myspace and pretty quickly too. If anyone can go on the internet, they are not safe unless they know enough not to do anything.
I mean, we were all taught not to talk to strangers, right? Well this is the same exact thing!
Graves? Most of them picked and tied the rope they hung there careers with.
Wow, the careers of the anti-gaming crusaders must be spinning in their graves.
Holy crap. I swear that, in the picture, he's wearing the same shirt that I am now. CREEPY.

BUt seriously, that's an awesome job.
@Hank

The problem is, though, a lot of, say, 15 year olds, think they -are- ready to take care of themselves...
thats the arrogance of youth talking.....god how I remember the days when I was center of the fcking world X-X

and I still have half my head stuck up where the sun dont shine ;_;
@hank yeah you're right, although we met in a public place irl. Also, good to hear your little cousin didn't actually meet anyone from myspace.

My little cousin hasn't put out any info or anything, but imo she posts pictures too racy for someone her age.
To many kids think they are ready to go out into the world. To many don't know the reality of the situation. Then again I never had a myspace so I don't know that the attraction to telling all my secrets is.

Am I the only one who DIDN"T want the whole world to know about me?
Don't get me wrong, I am all about them catching sexual predators, especially those preying on kids who just want to play games and have a good time.

But still I think it's funny that tax dollars are being used to pay cops to play MMO games. Why not a volunteer orgainzation to help combat online sexual predators? I'm sure there are plenty of good people out there willing to help out.
@Whitey

Because it has to be a police officer doing the sting, to ensure all the rules are followed so it's not entrapment. Those highly publicized stings on nightly news don't usually hold up in court...
@Daniel

Not necessarily. It just means they think he knows more about playing MMO's like a 15-year-old than, say, a 40 year-old MMO player...

Remember, these officers are trying to pretend their teens to catch predators. What better expert on being a teen, than a teen?
Sounds like one of my cousins too, putting her fullname, city, school (not to mention the photos) on a myspace page. Doesn't even bother to change the settings so it's set to private.
Makes you wonder what the arrangement here really is. He's too young to be employed by them...
I admit, it's a big, scary problem, but it has a simple solution:Don't pour out personal information.

I can definitly see these cops as a benefit though.
Although people should be searching for these predators, the best solution to the problem is to tell your dumbass kids not to meet people you met online or give them their personal information.

Like my stupid little cousin with her Myspace...
My country for an edit button!

I meant meet people online in real life or at least till you are old enough to take care of yourself.

But I do think a GP regular met his current wife online.

Also, my little cousin posted personal stuff on Myspace, she didn't meet anybody in real life.
I want that job.
Wow that is awesome. 1337 police...getting a plaque for playing an MMO...thats hilarious.
Unfortunately, the article suggests that all gamers are younger and that adults couldn't possibly know anything about games.

Sure, finding a qualified police officer with a proficiency in online gaming might not that be easy, but payment aside, the job could also be done be an adult
strangers against predators online...

I think you are most probably right....

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BearDogg-X: 10 N. O. Who Dat?
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ZippyDSMlee: JD:I think doc phill is still sout about the break up with his wife he dose not fill holes as much as make them bigger these day
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JDKJ: You should get Phil McCraken to help you spackle those banisters.
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ZippyDSMlee: Oh in the pirate hunter article I need my song ieda heckled DS,JD,Beemon sic im !!!
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ZippyDSMlee: JD:no I am tried from prepping the banisters for painting , worked on them from 12 to 4 and 6 to 8...after I got back from the store...got up early got ready...blah...been up all day..I need a nap...
Posted 11/21/09 at 11:42pm
JDKJ: No. You gonna stay up late tonight soldering?
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ZippyDSMlee: JDKJ:Don't you mean Mctite?
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Flamespeak: I still think military personell, killing other military personell, on a military complex should be handled by military courts.
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Flamespeak: I could see this a mixture of the two charges rather than just one or the other.
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mentor07825: Britain certainly does deserve it! And the French! God damn it, it was a hand ball!!!
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ZippyDSMlee: mentor07825:Well Brittan dose deserve it....
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Austin_Lewis: I say we try Al Gore too. I always said he was in on the racket.
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Alyric: The leaked information proves these organizations knowingly defrauded governments (i.e., taxpayers) out of billions of dollars. Yet there will probably never be a trial.
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