Just because child pornography isn’t something Demopolis residents hear about, that doesn’t mean the problem doesn’t exist.

FBI Special Agent Margaret Faulkner said child pornography is the “fastest growing addiction in America.”

She was in Demopolis Thursday to teach area caregivers and law enforcement officers how to report, address and investigate the issue.

Law enforcement officers, social workers, foster parents, day care providers and DHR employees from eight surrounding counties gathered in the Demopolis Civic Center for an all-day session on handling child pornography and child abduction.

“About 100 people registered and there are probably 80 or so here now. There are people from Sumter, Greene, Hale, Wilcox, Washington, Perry, Clarke, Choctaw and Escambia counties,” Marengo County DHR resource developer and quality assurance coordinator Charlotte Webb said. “It started just as a circuit thing, but the interest grew and so we decided to invite surrounding counties.”

“It’s good they are here because we’re all in the same fight,” District Attorney Greg Griggers said. “Chances are if we are prosecuting one person here, they are prosecuting the same person.”

Webb said the event is sponsored by a grant from Children’s Justice and the Marengo County Multi-Disciplinary Team. The last session was in June 2003 with a focus on sexual abuse.

She also said child pornography was the chosen topic for this year because many people don’t know how often the illegal exploitative content is being shared and transferred over the Internet.

“But the law enforcement officers and social workers need to know about this and what to do with it, because the reports are not coming in,” Webb said.

“This is an issue that we, luckily, haven’t had to deal with very much,” Griggers said. “But hearing this on this level from Margaret Faulkner will bring more attention to it. Our source of information is very good.”

Faulkner said her job as an agent is general police instruction and providing additional training to officials when needed, which is why she accepted the opportunity to further the education of administrators in the Black Belt.

“Child pornography is a very anonymous crime and they may not know how to find it, if it’s out there,” Faulkner said. “This will help them be more aware that it’s out there. And if they find that it is true, they’ll know how to address it.”

Faulkner’s “labor intensive process” included claiming probable cause and collecting evidence, surveillance, obtaining a subpoena and search warrant, and creating a child abduction response plan.

“This is an awesome event for this area. We had three FBI agents, including Margaret, to come today,” Webb said.

“It’s good that they are here,” Griggers said. “Children are children and we all want to do right by them.”

– reporter@demopolistimes.com