The police chief in Columbus, Ohio, is condemning an incident in which two officers told a father his 11-year-old daughter could face child porn charges for sending images to a man online.
Chief Elaine Bryant said as soon as the department learned of the incident, captured on doorbell camera video, it “immediately reached out to the father to apologize, and to assure him that this matter was being fully investigated – both the actions of this officer, and more importantly, any crime committed against his child.”
Bryant added in a statement posted to X, “My expectation is that our officers treat every victim of crime with compassion, decency, and dignity. What I saw in that video did not reflect that – which is why we referred this case to the Inspector General.”
The video shows two Columbus officers arriving at Billy Blocka’s house early September 14. He said he called them because his daughter had reportedly been manipulated into sending photos of herself to a man online.
The officers, one female and one male, knock on the door before the father steps out to speak with them.
“I just want you guys to come over and talk to her and I want her to realize what this was,” he says. “Reality is, not much I can probably do about it, is there?”
The female officer then responds, “I mean, she can probably be charged with child porn.”
“Who? She can?” the father says in the video. “She’s 11 years old.”
“She’s creating it, right?” the female officer says.
The father repeats, “She’s 11 years old.”
“Doesn’t matter. She is still making porn,” the female officer responds.
Yes, the child could face charges as we have seen previously in this country for manufacturing (and not disseminating) images such as theirs. That is the hard truth regardless of the age here. I am surprised they did not advise the father he could face child endangerment charges for not monitoring the child’s electronic device given his responsibility for her and the minor has not the right mind to know what they are doing (according to many sources despite many others knowing the truth about minor’s knowing). They could have mentioned that to him to really add to the shock value of the incident given their posture.
This and the NC case of recent times will be used in the halls of Congress to strengthen the bill currently being debated there on keeping minors safe from people like she was allegedly sending images to.
I am not sure LE is in the wrong here given SCOTUS has given them a green light to do tactics like this with case precedent despite the furor it seems to be making waves with. They do it all the time under different circumstances where it would be approved with adults. I am not saying it is right for this LE unit to do this, but will be looked at in a light of being a bit more lighter handed in the future. Of course, LE should have better situation awareness (SA) of their surroundings and note the doorbell camera before starting any discussions. We all know they seem to act a bit better when they know they are being recorded where the 1st Amendment is being exercised.
Good that they’re investigating the cops for handling this poorly. But the real investigation should be with the legislature if what the cops said is actually true in that state. They’re shooting the messenger for what the politicians created.
“I just want you guys to come over and talk to her and I want her to realize what this was”. It seemed to me the father just wanted her to know how serious this was and was looking for their help. Kind of like a scared straight kind of thing maybe. What the officer said was not wrong. And not appropriate. Both can hold true. We know this happens. Kids are on the registry as result.
What this also demonstrates is how little the police will actually do to catch an actual perpetrator in real time. They could not be bothered. They would rather do a sting and trick someone.
And then finally this young girl’s picture is out there. The police certainly showed no interest in investigating to promote a prompt removal of them from the internet(if even possible). Down the road some person might end up with this on their computer, whether by accident or purpose, and will go to prison for 10 years for something the child herself created. And to clarify and should go without saying…no, just because the child created it does not let the future viewer off the hook. But the point is we have an internet pornography problem. If so many people were interested in csam then they would have been busting people buying it in the back allies back in the day and that was not happening. And the numbers show year over year the increase in viewing. It is a problem that needs solving as no one wants harm to anyone.
Lastly….get your kids (and parents) off the internet. They have way to much freedom with these devices.
This is the kind of thing that happens when people get a mentality that says “I’ll only support the police as long as they do what I want.”
Of course minors can be charged with production of cp, we see minors as young as 9? on the registry. People do not realize that upwards of 26?% of those on the registry are minors. The cops were right but I guess not so human.
No doubt that father paid no mind to the registry or its implications before this…or, in fact, he could have fully supported it. He may rethink his stance now. It’s really messed up that an 11 year old could potentially be charged with such a serious crime…especially if someone else manipulated them into it. There is no rationality or logic when it comes to anything regarded as a “sex” crime. Our laws have gone completely off the rails. My takeaway from this story is that parents should never get law enforcement involved in their life if they can avoid it, and need to handle issues with their children themselves, least they have their whole world torn apart.
Isn’t it odd that it is illegal for any person of any age to take any kind of photograph of themselves? It just hit me my how truly odd that is. Why have we Americans accepted that it is okay for strangers to decide what our own families can do? If a member of our family does something that we do not like, who turns to government or strangers in order to deal with it? How odd. I’d prefer everyone mind their own business.
If a person takes a picture of themselves and just keeps it, have they harmed someone? And what if it does get misplaced and “leak out”? Who has been harmed?
I guess I’m just over government and busybodies who aren’t capable of minding their own business. I’m over allowing stupid, ignorant strangers to ever have any thoughts about my life. They can mind their own business about what I want to smoke, drink, or consume. Same if my family member wants to have an abortion. Same if I want to pay someone for sex. Etc., etc., ad nauseam.
If I harm someone other than myself, then I deserve to be punished. Other than that, people need to learn to mind their business. Amerika might be a free country then.
I saw on the news this evening about some really huge problems that Amerika is having right now. Too bad no one has any time or energy to actually handle those. Everyone is too busy harassing other people. So the country can burn.
So now we’re like Iran.
Over there, victims of rape and other sexual assaults are punished for “sex outside of marriage”. Unbelievable!!! You can’t make this sh*t up!!!!
The cops were not totally out of line. This little girl should know how serious the issue is and take a little responsiblity. Or she’ll grow up to be a MeToo perpetual victim who expects LEOs and vic advocates to come running to her beckon call over some allegation she failed to report 25 years ago.
I have an idea. How about the cops investigate who this guy is that coerced the girl to send pictures and charge him to the fullest extent of the law instead of threatening to charge the little girl? How about letting the father deal with her to teach her what she did was not right so she never does it again?
Or am I being too human?
I am just going to throw this out there…IG has a minimum age of 13 to have an account with them. This minor is 11. Did her father sponsor this account as is required for her since she is under that age?
“Instagram requires everyone to be at least 13 years old before they can create an account (in some jurisdictions, this age limit may be higher). Accounts that represent someone under the age of 13 must clearly state in the account’s bio that the account is managed by a parent or manager“. (IG Help)
So again, I will go back to what I said above about child endangerment charge against the father for sponsoring or condoning her account. (This goes to holding parents accountable for their child’s actions which is a slippery slope of govt overreach.) Does this minor have the mental ability to know better at this age to make better choices? An individual assessment would be needed. IG is not the safest place for even some adults given the adult content on there.
However, it does seem crazy to have to mention to a parent their child could be charged with manufacturing such images (and not distro of them which is odd since they could go together even if they are of themselves). LE in this situation is not wrong (gulp, I actually said that). I think the overall uproar should be over the fact that a minor could be charged as they said.
There was a mention about why didn’t LE go after the person who was allegedly receiving these images. What if the person on the other end was not a “real” bad person but LE impersonating a bad person involved with a sting to see who would bite on sending images? Now that would have been rich. Did the minor portray herself to be older to the other person she was sending images to?
Next time, a parent should talk with an attorney about this matter first (your public service announcement for the legal community). However, I suspect this goes back to what minors are taught and adults believe, talk with LE or someone like that when there are issues like this. They are your friend and to be trusted. Uh huh…
this is why you don’t call the police. it’s a family matter, this is exactly why the cops weren’t called cause of this double punishment justice system. this article needs to be posted on social media.
The police man is your friend, kids.
Follow up to this story:
Police suggested charging a child for her explicit photos. Experts say the practice is common (AP via Yahoo Sept 21, 2023)