ANCHORAGE, Alaska—
2008, 28 arrests took place; 22 in 2009; 14 arrests in 2010.Channel 2 News shared Alaska’s ICAC arrest statistics with PROTECT’s Executive Director. Grier Weeks
believes the numbers do not add up. “If you’ve dedicated five officers and you’re taking federal funding…
and then you say we’ve only done 14 arrests… you have a real problem,” Weeks argues.
Mapping Out The Problem
On the day ICAC spoke with Channel 2 News, Anchorage Police were actively monitoring 13 computers
online that may be in possession of child pornography.
Weeks believes police have the proof and technology to track down suspects and make arrests before
children are physically harmed. Weeks believes sophisticated mapping technology, using unique
computer serial numbers, allows investigators to gather real-world proof by forensics in order to make that
arrest.
Between October of 2005 and February of 2008, the Wyoming Attorney General's Office put together
a snapshot in time. During that time period, the Wyoming office was the gatekeeper of the nation's
ICAC data. That data shows out of more than 570,000 computer serial numbers nationwide which were
trafficking child abuse images, a total of 1,418 were originating from Alaska.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children tells Channel 2 News they believe that many child
pornography viewers will eventually physically molest a child. PROTECT estimates at least one in three
viewers of child pornography is a hands-on-offender with local child victims.
Using the Wyoming Attorney General’s “snapshot” combined with PROTECT’s estimate, the example
shows as many as 372 children in Alaska were at risk during this two-and-a-half year time period.