MSP Gets New Technology to Fight Internet Child Porn - WLNS TV 6 Lansing - Jackson | Your Local News Leader

Michigan State Police announced Tuesday they have new equipment to help fight crimes against child sexual exploitation online. The new tools are a combination of hardware and software that police call "Cop-in-a-Box." It's a forensic data recovery system that helps officials bust sexual predators who use the Internet.

Whenever officials get a lead on a possible child porn case, if images or videos have been shared digitally, police can track down the suspect through the computer's IP address. The equipment allows police to take a forensic image of a laptop, cell phone or any other digital device that may have been used to store or share sexually explicit material of a minor.

"We have the ability to extract deleted media. So people think once they delete something, it's gone forever. Not necessarily with the technology that's available to us at this point," said MSP Det. Trooper Wesley Smith.

"Just reminding everybody how important it is to be involved with your children and their online usage, and to make a commitment to their safety and to make sure that our kids all become good cyber citizens," said MSP Det. Sgt. Jay Poupard.

Two of these high tech computers, that cost about $3,000 each, were donated by Moose International. Right now, state police are raising money for a third machine to help them in their fight against sexual crimes online. MSP recently added three detectives to its Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.