Cops Conduct Child Porn Sweep

More than 165 detectives from 30 law enforcement agencies, including Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office, are collaborating with the Silicon Valley Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (SVICAC) in a county-wide sweep Thursday dubbed "Operation Chickenhawk." 

The operation, which hopes to net more than 20 search warrants at different locations, is said to be the largest child porn sweep ever in Northern California, the San Jose Police Department said in a press release.

Detective teams from the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office, Los Gatos, Mountain View, San Jose, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz police departments, the FBI, the U.S. Postal Service and the Department of Homeland Security (Homeland Security Investigations) are participating. The agencies are all part of SVICAC, according to the release.

Officers hope to seize evidence linking the suspects to the distribution and or possession of child pornography, the release added.

SVICAC was established in March, 2003. It's one of 61 around the nation targeting peer-to-peer file sharing online. It investigates cases of web-facilitated child pornography and cases of child sexual exploitation or abuse that results from contact over the Internet or other computer services. The group works with the local F.B.I., I.C.E., and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

SVICAC's efforts have evolved from previous investigative techniques in which suspects were identified through chatroom decoy operations, police explained in the release.

Investigators now search for hard-core images involving pre-pubescent children. They use a variety of investigative techniques to identify suspects involved in possessing and distributing child pornography. Detectives then obtain search warrants for those homes, the department said in its prepared statement.

The San Jose Police Department is the lead agency for SVICAC and was responsible for the 20 separate investigations that led to the sweep, the statement noted.

One of the tools used by SVICAC is a mobile forensics lab which allows investigators to drive up to a suspect's home, seize hard drives and immediately search for evidence that would normally take months to obtain from a state Department of Justice laboratory, according to the statement.

SVICAC has arrested more than 40 men for possession of child pornography since January, the statement said.

The task force has conducted a number of child porn sweeps in the Bay Area over the last few months, including multiple arrests in Marin County, Sonoma County, Monterey County, Alameda County, San Jose and Oakland, the statement said.