The N.C. House has approved a bill that would allow state investigators to go undercover to find stalkers of children on the Internet.
The Child Exploitation Prevention Act passed the House unanimously on Wednesday. The Senate had approved the bill earlier, and now it will return to the Senate for concurrence.
The bill would make it a felony for an Internet stalker to solicit anyone, including an undercover officer. Under current law, a stalker who solicits an officer posing as a minor could be charged only with a misdemeanor. The measure also would require stalkers to be added to the state’s Sex Offender Registry and to provide DNA samples for the state’s database of convicted offender DNA.
Incidents of child sexual exploitation reported in North Carolina continue to rise. In 2001, there were 11 incidents reported. In 2004, 533 such incidents were reported, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
To help local law enforcement track Internet stalkers who try to exploit children, the Attorney General’s Office is also asking legislators to add four new field agents to he State Bureau of Investigation’s Computer Crimes Unit. The agents would partner with the national Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, a network of law enforcement agencies and prosecutors dedicated to protecting children from online dangers.