How to Catch a Pedophile

[Originally Posted 10/16/07]
Many of you will remember that I got hopping mad when the news media and Nevada police teamed up to bring kiddie porn featuring a three year old girl to national audiences. I questioned the logic of showing pictures of a little girl to the world -- taken from her rape tape -- when the alleged goal was to find the person raping her (who was not shown in the pictures). This did not strike me as “the direct approach,” and I went so far as to hint that it might be the most immoral thing I have heard in quite some time.

Today, I opened up to the news and discovered that her rapist was caught!

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Guess how!

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He turned himself in when he was pulled over for driving without a license plate! Then the pressure of being questioned about why he (as a black-haired, brown-eyed man) was using the driver’s license of a blonde-haired, green-eyed woman caused him to crack. Yes, I can see why this criminal mastermind was on the lam for so long. Thank goodness that we showed that rape tape to the world! It certainly helped in his capture! http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/16/rape.tape/index.html

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Ok, in all fairness, seeing his victim on national television might have shamed and embarrassed him into confessing. But isn’t that shame and embarrassment (for the girl) exactly why I was objecting in the first place?

On the other hand, since police wanted this man -- this man specifically -- for similar charges with an older but still illegal girl, is anyone with me on this in wondering exactly how the ball got dropped? Is the database of wanted pedophiles really so large in Nevada that the inspired technique of “show the tapes to everyone and let it work itself out” is really considered good? Since the major question in the three year old’s case was “Is this guy hurting other little girls?,” did no one think to just go check? I guess not.

Let’s compare this case to today’s OTHER front page pedophile news story. (WTF?) It too is a sequel of one of my other “favorites.” Specifically, the one in which police (Interpol) took the “unprecedented” step of releasing pictures of the rapist instead of the victims.

Oh look, they figured out who he is! How completely unexpected! It would seem that if you look for the criminal, you might actually find him. This is truly a new era in police work. http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/10/16/childsex.suspect.ap/index.html

I hate the media. And I hate these retarded pedophile stories. I really doubt I’m alone on this. So why do they seem to be coming faster and faster?