In an amazing use of technology that's usually seen only in sci-fi movies, investigators have caught a notorious child predator and put behind bars.
The technology isn't even available to the public yet
Stephen Keating, a notorious child predator who repeatedly uploaded different photos of himself molesting children has been caught through the use of advanced imaging technology.
He was caught when he posted a photo of himself and a child in his bathroom. In the photo was a prescription bottle which was used by authorities to identify and prosecute Keating.
Special agent Jim Cole and his team used advanced technology to zoom in the photo and find out Keating's identity using the prescription bottle. They were able to get his first name as well as the first 3 digits of the prescription number. Additionally, they were also able to zoom in and use the photo of his hands to extract fingerprints.
The entire investigation took them 3 weeks.
They were able to rescue his 14 victims
The team were able to prosecute Keating and rescue 14 of his victims, all of which were children. The evidence that they acquired was enough to put Keating behind bars for 110 years.
According to Cole, "We strive to find these children as quick as possible, the longer it takes us the longer that child is in harm's way."
He adds, "What used to take us nine months now takes us a month. It helps us review video on a scale of about 100 times faster than previously" he adds. "It's been a complete game-changer for law enforcement and we get that feedback from the field all the time."
Hopefully, this technology can be used to save even more lives.
Online safety for children
With the internet becoming more and more accessible to people, it's being used by predators to look for their potential victims. That's why it's important to take any precautions possible in order to keep your children safe. Here are some helpful tips:
- Talk about internet safety with your kids. Teach them the ins and outs of the internet and guide them on what they can and can't share with people online.
- Put the computer in a common area of the house. That way, you can easily monitor what websites your child is visiting and you can guide them accordingly.
- Monitor all the sites that your child visits in order to check if they are indeed safe sites.
- If your child meets anyone online, encourage them to talk to you about it and tell you if they ever feel uncomfortable talking to that person.
- For younger kids, you should monitor their email to know if they're being contacted by anyone with nefarious interests.
- Enable parental controls on your internet and ask your service provider about any blocking or filtering tools or services that they can offer.
READ: Pedophile caught by vigilante group after he thought he was meeting a 13-year-old
Sources: edition.cnn.com, ijr.com, kidshealth.org
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