Matt Foster
September 14, 2005
Officer Wallace Carter of the PJC Police Department has been named to the Escambia County Cyber Crimes Task Force as a result of his investigation of two recent child pornography cases on Pensacola campus.
In the most recent event, Peter Jacob Smith, 48, was arrested and charged with possession [of a] photograph of sexual performance by [a] child stemming from an incident Aug. 16 in which he allegedly was viewing child pornography on an upstairs LRC computer. Smith is not currently enrolled at the college.
In August, former Corsair Sports Editor Brian Nephi McLellan was arrested on the same charge.
Carter is part of a task force consisting of agencies from Escambia, Santa Rosa and other counties and is made up of law agencies, police forces, and the FBI.
“My role at this point is to provide any information I have on a case that they might be working on,” Carter said. “I would say that there’s more of an issue with normal pornography than anything else.”
This concern is echoed in the computer lab in Building 21 on the Pensacola campus.
In the past, incidents involving adult pornography were not all that uncommon. While viewing adult pornography is not illegal, the college has strict policies concerning pornography on campus computers.
“You can’t even come close to being specific how often it happens,” said Michael Hual, academic computing coordinator. “In the past there could be as many as seven incidents in the same week.”
“It’s something that the computer staff and the PJC Police Department monitor closely,” Carter said, “but we can’t get everybody.”
Carter is also training to join the Cyber Crimes Task Force parent organization known as “Internet Crimes Against Children.”
Started with a grant from the Department of Juvenile Justice, the organization is designed to teach law enforcement officers how to deal with sexual crimes against children. From the home office in Gainesville to Pensacola, there are more than 50 officers who specialize in proactive work, such as officers going undercover on the internet, to reactive work like investigating a crime involving child pornography.
Once Carter receives task force training, he will have advanced knowledge in evidence preservation and building a case for material involving internet crimes against children.
“There’s a lot of resources.” Carter said. “With training and opportunities, we can bring a lot back to the school.”
Corsair staff writer Britney Hirras contributed to the story.