{
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    "title" : "ICE Wields Smartphones in Fight Against Child Exploitation |Digital.gov",
    "description": "ICE Wields Smartphones in Fight Against Child Exploitation",
    "home_page_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/","feed_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/05/28/ice-wields-smartphones-in-fight-against-child-exploitation/index.json","item" : [
    {"title" :"ICE Wields Smartphones in Fight Against Child Exploitation","summary" : "Armed with a smartphone instead of a badge, ordinary Americans are helping law enforcement officers capture child predators. After exhausting all investigative leads, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents turn to the public for help to","date" : "2015-05-28T10:00:48-04:00","date_modified" : "2025-01-27T19:42:55-05:00","authors" : {"kdowney" : "Kevin Downey"},"topics" : {
        
            "mobile" : "Mobile",
            "social-media" : "Social media",
            "software-engineering" : "Software engineering"
            },"branch" : "bc-archive-content-3",
      "filename" :"2015-05-28-ice-wields-smartphones-in-fight-against-child-exploitation.md",
      
      "filepath" :"news/2015/05/2015-05-28-ice-wields-smartphones-in-fight-against-child-exploitation.md",
      "filepathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/blob/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2015/05/2015-05-28-ice-wields-smartphones-in-fight-against-child-exploitation.md",
      "editpathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/edit/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2015/05/2015-05-28-ice-wields-smartphones-in-fight-against-child-exploitation.md","slug" : "ice-wields-smartphones-in-fight-against-child-exploitation","url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/05/28/ice-wields-smartphones-in-fight-against-child-exploitation/","content" :"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2015/05/540-x-960-ICE-operation-predator-Android-app-Arrests-page.jpg\"\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2015/05/250-x-444-ICE-operation-predator-Android-app-Arrests-page.jpg\"\n    alt=\"Operation Predator Arrests page as seen on the Android app.\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003c/a\u003eArmed with a smartphone instead of a badge, ordinary Americans are helping law enforcement officers capture child predators.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter exhausting all investigative leads, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents turn to the public for help to locate fugitive child predators through the \u003ca href=\"http://www.ice.gov/predator/smartphone-app\"\u003eOperation Predator smartphone app\u003c/a\u003e and social media outreach.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd it’s working.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSince Operation Predator launched for iPhones in September 2013 and Android devices in Oct 2014, the app has assisted in 6 arrests on charges related to child exploitation. Counting tips pouring in from social media, the public assisted in roughly a dozen arrests of fugitive child predators that special agents previously could not locate.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA recent case involved child predator Jeremiah Malfroid, who was wanted in Ohio for sexually abusing a young girl for years. Special agents listed Malfroid on the Operation Predator app in October 2014, and members of the public shared ICE’s request for assistance nearly 200,000 times on Facebook and Twitter. \u003ca href=\"http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/former-ohio-man-profiled-ices-operation-predator-app-custody-after-surrendering\"\u003eHe turned himself in to local authorities in California\u003c/a\u003e nearly two months later, and \u003ca href=\"http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/former-ohio-man-featured-operation-predator-app-pleads-guilty-child-exploitation\"\u003epleaded guilty to charges of child exploitation\u003c/a\u003e in April.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHSI Executive Associate Director Peter T. Edge said that “integrating social media into our investigative efforts has been a huge success for us.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe app complements the agency’s social media outreach by providing the public with an easy way to call-in or submit a tip directly to HSI special agents. The app also lets users share suspect information on social media, helping to make the world a smaller hiding place for these criminals.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen special agents request help from the public, a push notification buzzes the phones of app users with the suspect’s info. Users can submit tips, share the suspect’s mugshot and details on their social media pages, view a list of wanted child predators and learn more about the Operation Predator program.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOperation Predator is the first U.S. federal law enforcement app designed to seek the public’s help with identifying and locating fugitive and unknown suspected child predators.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eICE’s Office of Public Affairs developed the app with special agents from \u003ca href=\"http://www.ice.gov/cyber-crimes\"\u003eHSI’s Cyber Crimes Center (C3)\u003c/a\u003e and field offices across the country. The app received \u003ca href=\"http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ice-receives-best-app-honorable-mention-pr-news-social-media-icon-awards\"\u003ehonorable mention for “Best App”\u003c/a\u003e at PR News’ 2014 Social Media Icon Awards last June.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOperation Predator is available for iOS devices on \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/operation-predator/id695130859?mt=8\"\u003eApple’s App Store and iTunes\u003c/a\u003e, and for Android devices on the \u003ca href=\"https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.java.ice\"\u003eGoogle Play store\u003c/a\u003e. Download the app and stay tuned to ICE’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/wwwICEgov\"\u003eFacebook page\u003c/a\u003e and \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/ICEgov\"\u003eTwitter account\u003c/a\u003e to learn more about how \u003ca href=\"http://www.ice.gov/predator\"\u003eICE combats child exploitation\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eYou can download this app and other cool mobile government apps with just a few clicks from our \u003ca href=\"http://www.usa.gov/mobileapps.shtml\"\u003eUSA.gov Federal Mobile Apps Directory\u003c/a\u003e. Federal agencies can get their apps in the directory by \u003ca href=\"https://touchpoints.app.cloud.gov/registry\"\u003eusing the Federal Mobile Products Registry\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n"}
  ]
}