Child porn cases take toll on investigators-Job exposes team to images of abuse few can comprehend

[Are_grits_groceries]

D.C. police detective Timothy Palchak spends his days trawling the Internet for people willing to send him child pornography. It isn't easy work, pretending to be a pedophile. in online chats, instant messages and telephone calls, Palchak must enter the psyche of men he describes as "the scum of the Earth."

He tells his targets that he molests children, even infants, and describes his deranged sexual desires. He feigns anxiety at being caught by police and expresses sympathy for a suspect's fetishes. Before long, Palchak is bombarded with vile photographs and videos, all depicting sexual abuse of children. The investigator scrutinizes the images to build his case and, he hopes, to rescue victims.

Palchak is one of hundreds of police officers and FBI agents who are leading the federal government's war on child pornography, a priority of the Justice Department. The government's tactics have sparked intense debate. The plight of victims, who live with the knowledge that their abuse endures in cyberspace, has been well documented. But little attention has been focused on the toll such cases take on investigators, who loiter in the Internet's seediest places and are required to study images that are too graphic to describe in a newspaper. The abuse is so disturbing that investigators rarely talk about it, even with their families.

"Those sounds -- the crying, the screaming on the videos, are embedded in your brain forever," said Palchak, 38, who has been investigating child pornography since 2005. "The screams are complete terror. They are bad. But you have to battle through it and listen to it. The eyes, they are just like death. There is just no life in those eyes."

Much more in the story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/30/AR2009113004032.html?hpid=moreheadlines

For all of the heinous actions we read about, they just skim the surface of what is done to kids of all ages.

I don't know how anyone does this job. I think I would poke my eyes out and rock in a corner if I saw even a part of it. I think this is the worst job on Earth or close to it.

[vadawg]

1. +10000 people have no idea of what this kinda shit does to you

only a minority of people last longer than a couple of cases and most burn out real quick, all in all i would rather deal with the straight up gang murderers than these guys. they really do make your flesh crawl... edited to add the best resource available for when you work cases like this is the peer support where you talk to other cops, im actually surprised that the suicide rate for this is not a lot higher and thats a credit to the peer support volunteers...

[Are_grits_groceries]

5. There was a hearing on Capitol Hill

about more funding to catch child pornographers and the like. They cited just THREE cases, and there isn't enough mind bleach to get them out of my memory.

I wonder why they even have to ask for more money. I would give them what they needed and more.

[vadawg]

6. yup even this thread is making me want to bang my head on a tree

im just glad i dont have to trawl for these guys, though i do have to question them and see some of the material, theres no way in the world i could fake them out online like our IT guys do. Even with what i see i still want to punch everyone of their faces in, and take the three days suspension.

well im going off shift now, hopefully tonight will be as quiet and uneventful as last night, have a great day...

[seabeyond]

7. yet

you are a poster that talks about girls hittin puberty is free game? and fucking everything and all , often, young ect..?

[Kansas Wyatt]

8. It would make me go on a vandetta...

To kill everyone abusing kids in what I would have seen.

I don't see how the investigators could refrain from just killing these perverted scum bastards.

[redqueen]

14. Try to imagine experiencing it as a child,

at the hands of your own parent.

I admire these investigators for going through that horror second-hand... maybe they can prevent other innocents from being victimized.

[Odin2005]

24. (((HUG)))

:hug:

[redqueen]

28. Thanks, Odin.

[Skittles]

2. .

:cry:

[ProdigalJunkMail]

3. yep...easily the worst job on earth

and maybe one of the most important ones. i cannot imagine what it does to you to have to look at this garbage every day. i hope they call get appropriate counseling and maybe, just maybe, busting just one of those assholes makes it worth the effort.

sP

[vadawg]

4. you cant get invested in getting a conviction in these cases, it will just eat you up

all you focus on is that you might have helped a child have some respite even for a day, its all you can do. These things take you to dark places that no one should ever have to go or look and a lot of good people never come back...

[phasma ex machina]

12. A nadir of evil inflicted on heroic social work practitioners. nt

[Odin2005]

9. I could not imagine having to do that.

:cry:

[The Backlash Cometh]

10. I can imagine what he means by complex terror.

It's the sound of someone being stripped of any trust they will ever have in humanity.

[redqueen]

15. Very well put. (nt)

[yellerpup]

11. As a writer I do not believe in censorship

but I can see no value in pornography. Since porn degrades everyone in it and everyone who sees it, I don't know why it is considered "free speech." If there were less pornography there would be less abuse, in my opinion. Pornography gives it's users the wrong idea about what is normal, permissible, and acceptable and the erasure of boundaries often leads to horrific abuse. Given the effect on our society, I believe it is time to rethink our laws concerning pornography. On this I agree with Mia Farrow, "No matter what, you don't fuck the kids."

[Bryn]

13. When children are abused like that the society suffers

very very sad

[CoffeeCat]

16. As a victim of this kind of stuff...

...it is healing to know that there are people who dedicate their lives to putting away these animals who do this to children.

I was abused like this as a child--and my father's best friend who also participated--took pictures. It's worth noting that he was a cop.

I've gone to the police and nothing was done. The perps were never questioned. I even furnished medical records--showing
ten hospitalizations for re-occurring bladder infections and urethral damage.

The eyes--with no life in them. That's disassociation. You completely zone out and go somewhere else. It saved my life. That
look may be disturbing--but it is a life-saving coping mechanism.

I'll never get justice. However, just knowing that there are law-enforcement officials out there who are sacrificing their
own mental health to bust these people--helps a great deal. It's a sliver of hope, that's for sure.

My fortunate access to great therapists, and my resilience--is also cause for celebration and hope too. I'm doing well today.

Unfortunately, many are not as lucky.

[yellerpup]

17. So glad you made it through

and are doing well today. :hug:

[Name removed]

19. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Odin2005]

25. *Gives CoffeeCat a hug*

:hug:

[Mad_Dem_X]

33. ...

:hug:

[slackmaster]

36. Thanks for the read - K&R

A former coworker of mine quit his career as a software developer so he could go to law school. He plans to become a prosecutor, and to specialize in child abuse cases.

I can't imagine what horrors may have driven him to that decision, but I'm grateful that there are people out there who are willing to do that kind of work.

:kick:

[bridgit]

18. .........for some there is no 'special level' in hell, for some there is a special hell period

[BoneDaddy]

20. that is why I support the death penalty

I remember watching 8mm with Nick Cage and eventually started my move from anti DP to pro DP with individuals such as this. They have abdicated their humanity as far as I am concerned. The world is a better place without them

[WinkyDink]

21. But if viewing is a crime, wouldn't ALL viewers be de facto criminals?

[redqueen]

31. Why else would anyone want to watch it?

The police have to, as it's part of their investigation.

But others?

[Romulox]

32. Almost all crimes have an intent element. nt

[Shell Beau]

22. There are many things that must be revolting that people

like cops, doctors, etc., must deal with. I can't imagine. I just can't. I would think that these cops and detectives would need some kind of counseling. I know it must consume them. Hard not to take your work home with ya.

[dugaresa]

23. This happens to the majority of people who work in law enforcement

and yet they are treated with disrespect.

I know a police officer in my neighborhood and the job gets to him as well.

His job is to go into situations where no one else would,

the home torn by violence to stop yet another child beating or wife beating or even husband beating.
the house with drug addicts or the deranged paranoid who is scaring the neighbors
the guy who is weaving around traffic and could kill someone so you have to be the one to pull him over and arrest him

no one invites the police over for a slice of birthday cake or to say thanks, they call because life took a turn for the ugly.

Years and years of seeing the ugly side of humanity will make good men and women very cold and hard.

I met a prison guard at a democratic event and he basically said that it took years after he retired for him to see the good side of humanity again. Started as a police officer, then took a job at a prison and it made him a hard line conservative but years later he realized that he was only seeing a small segment of society on a daily basis and it was coloring his world view in a bad way.

[Fleshdancer]

26. I couldn't do it.

Hell, I can't even read this entire article. :(

[Mari333]

27. I wouldnt be able to do it

just reading part of what you wrote destroyed me.
I cannot read it. I cannot read about the innocent being harmed, children or animals. I just cannot.

It is the one time I believe in the death penalty. I swear in these cases I do.

[JonQ]

29. I'm glad someone is doing this

also glad it isn't me.

[Mad_Dem_X]

30. I couldn't survive one hour, doing what they do.

I would go insane with repulsion and the need to punish those sick fucks that are responsible.

[Romulox]

34. k/r. I generally support LEO, and in particular the ones doing the crucial work like this...nt

[Political Heretic]

35. I can hardly finish the article....

So I can't imagine the kind of sacrifice it must be to fight against this kind of horror daily.

[Joanne98]

37. Now this is a cop I can appreciate!

If they would just stop the failed war on drugs, they could spend more time doing this and he wouldn't have to look at so many pics himself!

[applegrove]

38. I cannot imagine how hard that job would be to do.