This week is election week, and we take a look at a variety of issues affecting crime, prosecutions and early release of prisoners in Southern California. Many media outlets reported about the challenges of having over 2800 court cases at risk of not being heard in Riverside County due to a heavy backlog of cases and a shortage of Judges. Over 200 of those cases were thrown out by Presiding Judge John Monterosso over the objection of Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin. Several press articles indicated that many of the cases not being heard were related to domestic abuse.

Hundreds of criminal cases dismissed in Riverside County due to court backlog - ABC7 Los Angeles

We also look at the impact of an older Proposition 57 which has resulted in the early release of tens of thousands of prisoners in California. Starting January 2023, California will implement SB 357 which redefines the California Penal Code related to loitering for the purposes of soliciting for prostitution and removes law enforcement’s ability to intervene when an adult is loitering for the purposes of soliciting prostitution.

The election season is upon us.  Million Kids is not a political organization, and we have no desire to influence an individual’s voting decision.  We do believe it is important to understand new laws and situations taking place that will have a major impact on our kids, especially if you live in California. This week we will look at several new laws that have been signed that will affect our families and children.

SB357: The California Safer Streets Act. This bill is signed and will go into effect January 1,2023. This bill has redefined the California Penal Code related to loitering for the purposes of soliciting for prostitution. The bill states that law enforcement will not be able to intervene with adult individuals that are loitering to solicit for prostitution. Million Kids believes that without intervention we will see an increase in the number of individuals who may be exploited through commercial sex. Additionally, without law enforcement being allowed to intervene, it will be difficult and near impossible to tell if a solicitor is an adult or minor, or if the person is soliciting of their own free will or being exploited by a trafficker or pimp.

SB 107: This bill is categorized as the “Data Sanctuary” legislation. It is designed to protect transgender youths and families living in states that do not provide transgender medical services for children 12 and older and allow them to come to California to receive gender affirming care without the consent of their parent or guardian. Gov. Newsom signed the bill in late September.  The law prohibits California courts and attorneys from enforcing subpoenas requested by other states about gender affirming care for minors, and health care providers from releasing medical information. This would include legal actions taken by the minor’s family to intervene in gender affirming care in California.

The Fentanyl Crisis- According to a recent article published by Brietbart and reaffirmed by other reporters, fentanyl seizures tripled nationwide in July, enough to kill 469 million people. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. Recently the DEA reported intercepting brightly colored fentanyl, referred to as rainbow fentanyl that looks like chalk or candy. The fentanyl drugs have increased dramatically as foreign nationals cross our borders in record numbers. Cartels are using Facebook and Tik Tok to recruit kids to come to the border and bring in drugs and participate in human smuggling in return for large amounts of cash.

It is hard to comprehend the challenges today’s youth and families and we believe it is more important than ever to get back to the basics in training our kids to have strong values and open conversations with family.

Every where we look there seems to be bad news. Perhaps it is the election. Starting in 2023, California has passed two important bills that will greatly impact our families and communities. They are SB 357 and SB 107. If you are not familiar with them, please read them and share your thoughts with us at [email protected]. With the passage of these bills, Million Kids spent a lot of time reflecting in how to keep our kids safe from predators in light of these changes. Some days it has been discouraging but we strongly feel that when things become challenging, we HAVE to rise to the occasion and do what it takes to protect our kids. With that in mind, here are five programs outlined below that will equip you and support our work so that we can do what it takes to combat child sex crimes.

Investigating online child sex crimes are some of the most challenging types of investigations in the business.

To be effective:

Law enforcements needs you first and foremost to make leaders of your children so they will not be victims.

Law enforcement needs quick and thorough information related to actual cases. Do not delete the photos or conversation. Do not alert the pedophile you know. Do not share it with everyone you know but take the victim and the electronics to cyber crimes locally.

In Riverside :951-955-5520 Nationally:  1-888-373-7888

The victim may be in your area but perpetrator is thousands of miles away. Most often cases are multi-jurisdictional .

The perpetrator may be one deranged soul, a ring of pedophiles coming together, or even large scale telemarketing centers in foreign countries.

Victims are as varied as any crime ever investigated

Could be prepubescent.

Could be toddlers

Could be teens playing in a video game

Could be teens doing self-made pornography – amateur pornography, or naïve kids doing sexual acts in front of webcams.

At any given time, the FBI states there could be as many as 500,000 pedophiles online.

Most important, talk with your child BEFORE they go online. Follow MillionKids.org and educate your child and prepare them to become leaders to live in a world with millions of bad guys. At Million Kids we believe online child sex crimes can be avoided if we prepare our young people to be hard to groom and recruit.

Sextortion: The Hidden Pandemic is an investigation into the world of online grooming and sextortion--a present-day reality for one in seven children online. By unsealing the federal case of a top-gun pilot with hundreds of victims, and interviewing survivors and their parents, this true-crime piece exposes an often-overlooked crime against children, the tactics of online predators, and the voices of parents and law enforcement poised to stop online child exploitation in its tracks.

Global Child Pornography Rings- one photo can go to 1 million pedophiles

Third World Telemarketing Centers-ruthlessly preying on US young people

Pornhub: Child Pornography Case – took down 9.3 million images of child pornography

Individuals who Perpetrate – Daniel Harris- had many victims in US and overseas.

Sextortion creates sexual shame and an emotional devastation unlike any other crime.- few understand the life long emotional damage experienced by sextortion victims.

58% of kids who are being blackmailed will try to meet up with their predator

Many kids who are being sextorted have taken their own lives or have been murdered.

Many kids who meet up with their predator are put into forced prostitution or pornography production.

We believe that online child exploitation does not have to happen. Most kids want to be leaders and influencers but we must educate parents and youth about how the Internet is used by bad guys and how to protect themselves so they will not be a victim of exploitation.

OUR CHILDREN ARE WORTH FIGHTING FOR

I saw a great bumper sticker this week:  You have to fight like the third monkey going into the ark and it is starting to rain!

Life seems more complicated these days. This generation of young people will have access to more information than any generation before them, but perhaps they will have less truth. With 24 hour news, world wide social media connections, mass audience live streaming apps that chat rooms connects us to millions of individuals it is sometimes hard for adults as well as young people to decide if the new relationship is empowering and beneficial or exploitative and dangerous.

As California begins to implement SB 357 that will mean law enforcement can no longer intervene for soliciting for street prostitution we are ALL challenged on how to keep our kids safe from being seduced into a world of easy money and exploitative sexual experiences.

After much soul searching, Million Kids leadership believes it is time for parents, grandparents and leaders to return to the basic principals to keep our kids safe from predators.  We are in the fight of our kids future. It is time to "make time" for strategic discussion within families related to old fashioned values, doing what is right instead of what is easy, believing in self, the cost of taking the low road, and standing up for truth, honesty, and sexual self respect.

"Grandparents are voices of the past and the door to the future. They provide us with the wisdom from a lifetime of experience that should never be undervalued." - Author Unknown.

This generation of young people will be the first generation in all of history that will be able to reach the entire world (through electronic devices) and the entire world can reach them.  This generation will have more access to more information than any generation before them, but may have trouble discerning what is true.  They will have relationships online with millions of people they don't know, but will struggle to find intimacy and in depth, reliable friendships they can trust.  This generation will crave safe haven and inclusion while trolling across the web through apps that do not value their worth or vulnerabilities.

This generation of grandparents has one of the greatest missions of all time, but also one of the greatest challenges in crossing over the digital jungle to build trust, empathy, exchange humor and build pride between themselves and their grandchildren.  Grandparents can get away with things parents can not.  They can listen, and laugh and provide gentle guidance. They can tell stories of their lives so kids will know they are part of a long line of successful people.  Grandparents can provide safe haven and inclusion and teach a young person how to relax and accept their own flaws while practicing self discipline, setting goals and developing a strong self image.

At Million Kids, we believe informed and prepared grandparents are the greatest weapon against a child becoming a victim of sex trafficking or social media exploitation.  You are never too old to make a difference.  We need more grandmas and grandpas, omas, opas, grammys, papas, nanas, grannys, pops, memaws, grams and gramps (or whatever affectionate term your grandchildren call you) to build a generation of young people who know who they are and what they stand for.  They are more likely to have grandkids who are leaders and will educate others against taking short cuts that will lead to exploitation.

TO ALL THE GRANDPARENTS OUT THERE

MILLION KIDS SALUTES YOU!

Every year approximately 1.3 million kids run away from home.  Research indicates that about 1 out of 6 kids who run away will be a victim of sex trafficking or sexual exploitation within the first 48 hours.  In 2014 Million Kids developed the MILLION KIDS MISSING KIDS program to support parents, law enforcement and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. We get the word out about local missing children and teens, and help accelerate the location and return of runaway and missing kids.  Thanks to Million Kids followers, we have been involved in the location and return of many kids who otherwise might have not been found.  We could not do this without your prayers and financial support.

On this weeks show we will explore why kids run away.  Often it is out of curiosity to meet up with someone they met on a chat room, dating site or hook up app and an anticipated quick encounter turns to heinous exploitation.  Sometimes a young person develops a deep seated fantasy about a person they have been connected to online and they are convinced they are in love, but they are unable to realize the devious nature of the person they are meeting.  Sometimes it is an escape from abuse or violence in the home.  Sometimes it is because of alcohol and substance abuse.  Sometime it is out of feelings of fear, anger or feelings of failure.

It is every parent's worst nightmare.  Thank you for support the work of Million Kids Missing Kids so we can support the parents and grandparents who are praying for a child's safe return.

This week we examine the case of missing 16-year-old teen, Kaylee Jones, who may be in a dangerous situation after meeting strangers on the hook up app, Omegle, and exchanging personal information including where she lived.

On June 14, Kaylee climbed out of her second story window of their home in the middle of the night,  purportedly to meet up with individuals she met online and she has been missing ever since.  According to Fox News, her parents believe their daughter may be a human trafficking victim.

We will also look at the potential dangers when parents post cute and entertaining videos of their toddlers on live streaming apps like TikTok.  The mother of  3-year-old "Wren Eleanor" had made her little daughter into a TikTok star with over 17 million followers.  

But wait!

Suddenly when looking deeper into her following, she discovered that videos of the 3 year old girl in a cropped shirt was specifically saved 45,000 times and videos of her eating a hot dog or pickle was saved 375,000 times.  According to an article on Fox News, videos and photos can be saved on Tik Tok and other social media accounts, but predators can use a smartphone's screen recording feature to record and screen shot content directly to their phones without being traced.

Few parents and grandparents understand the world of online pedophilia and realize how vulnerable our kids are to being accessed, groomed, recruited, and exploited.  In the case of toddlers and small children, predators and pedophiles are experts at obtaining seemingly innocent photos and photo shopping them to be bought, sold and traded to global pedophile rings operating in the Dark Net.

HELP FIND KAYLEE

Kaylee is described as 5 ft. 8 in. tall, weighing 135 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. Her mother believes she may have a dark blue book bag "with a horse on the front." She may be wearing black tennis shoes or converse sneakers, according to authorities.

Authorities are asking anyone with information about Kaylee's whereabouts to contact Investigator Kim Biggs at 770-830-5916 or [email protected].

It seems like everyday we are inundated with riveting videos of the latest smash and grab at a big retailer, or a shooting at a public event, school or mall, and or thousands of foreign nationals crossing our border illegally.  Social media, video on demand, and being globally connected has changed our world completely. Graphic and immediate images from around the globe,  impact how we perceive crime, how individual criminals find each other online and join a "swarm" to loot an upscale retailer.  It also changes how law enforcement agencies use technology to investigate and prosecute criminals.

This week's broadcast focuses on the psychological impact of being globally connected.  Terrorists no longer just plant a bomb and run away.  Rather, they film themselves in the act so individuals around the world are instilled with the fear and reality of the power of terrorism.

Large scale smash and grab rings often begin by a posting on social media and hundreds of individuals will show up to stores like Nordstroms or Best Buy to create a "swarm" of looting. Earlier this year over 80 individuals showed up at Nordstroms to loot and devastate the store  as Security Personnel had no choice but to watch.  The entire event was over in under 5 minutes.  The criminals were recruited online using social media.  These criminal activities are far different than organized crime where criminals had personal relationships which law enforcement could build a case and prosecute.

Using social media to recruit individuals to join a smash and grab operation means that the individuals will not know each others names or contact information and they are most often only together for under 20 minutes and quickly disperse.  Impromptu mass criminal operations are difficult for law enforcement to investigate since most often the criminals don't know each other and have no obvious connection except for responding to a social media announcement.

This week we look at the power and challenges of social media in crime and crime solving.