BELLMEAD, Texas (KXXV) — Police in Bellmead are cracking down on child sex predators by hosting a training with the nonprofit The Innocent.
- The Innocent provides law enforcement with specific training and equipment, such as special computers and software to sort through evidence to prosecute these crimes.
- The nonprofit has a newsletter for community members to stay knowledgeable about online crimes against children.
- The Innocent says they’ve trained 11 police departments in 6 states this year and are fully booked until next year.
- The Innocent provides these resources to departments for free and is fully funded by the people and donations.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
“With 37 million teens in America on social media, they're not on the playgrounds like it used to be, and neither are these people, they're where the children are. And unfortunately, that's on a phone.”
Nate Lewis is the CEO and founder of ‘The Innocent.’
It's a nonprofit he created in 2013 after spending years working internationally for an anti-child sex trafficking organization.
“Then coming back to the states and really, truly, just listening to the people and to the gaps and some of the missing pieces in law enforcement, and just saying, look, I know how we can fill those gaps.”
Last month, five of our local agencies– including Bellmead police– underwent training with 'The Innocent' to learn more about combating child sex crimes in our community.
"First we find out where are they at, and how we meet them wherever they're at, and then enhance them, and then continue to check in with them, and then bring them up to another level."
The nonprofit provides law enforcement with specific training and equipment, such as special computers and software to sort through evidence to prosecute these crimes.
While the training's goal is to protect children, it also supports the adults working in these cases.
"I think the thing that I wasn't aware of, that I was going to experience, is how much anger can I carry, you know, like you just see the abuse and the massive like, just, uh, violent ness on a child, and it, it causes a serious anger inside of you."
Nate says they want to continue supporting local officers who have witnessed these disturbing crimes.
"It's hard for an adult. I couldn't imagine as a child, receiving that at 1112, 13 years old."
