America’s Top Cyber Detectives: Inside the War on Child Exploitation

In a small, inconspicuous premises at a secret address in Texas, two police investigators, Jeff Rich and Chris Meehan, are waging a critical war against the flow of child pornography. These two childhood friends are recognized as two of “America’s top cyber detectives” and have received medals from the United States Attorney General for their work to stop child exploitation.

Their job, dealing with “what I call the darkness of society”, is tough. But their mission is clear: to be heroes for children and “stop what’s happening to them”.The Dual Strategy of Jeff Rich and Chris Meehan

The detectives’ work is split into two demanding components:

Proactive Work (Impersonation): A significant part of their work is the proactive hunt, where Jeff Rich and Chris Meehan pretend on a daily basis to be children or potential victims. They can spend months chatting with potential perpetrators. This complex undercover operation ensures they “put ourselves between a child and a perpetrator”. The ultimate goal of protecting children is achieved “If we arrest him before he has managed to exploit a child,” says police investigator Jeff Rich.

Reactive Work (Forensics): This involves the forensic review of computers, hard drives, and other devices seized during searches. This essential process often requires the detectives to be up late, sometimes until 1 am, trying to decrypt files to get an arrest.

The Technology Essential for Justice: TALINO

The detectives’ reactive work—the forensic review of seized digital devices—is where cutting-edge technology becomes essential. When Jeff Rich and Chris Meehan are handling the seized devices, they need tools that can quickly and accurately process evidence.

TALINO is the technology relied upon to perform this vital task. Used by police investigators like Rich and Meehan, forensic tools like TALINO are crucial for decrypting files and reviewing digital evidence to ensure arrests can be made. Without the capability to handle this digital evidence, the perpetrators who possess child exploitation material would remain free.The Scale of the Problem and Success.

Despite being “overburdened with jobs”—with 15 new cases coming to their table in a single day—the detectives continue the fight. Jeff Rich describes the volume of work as a “constant waterfall,” because unlike an avalanche, the problem does not run out.

Yet, cooperation leads to major victories. Operation Soteria Shield, which brought together the FBI and over 70 different police units in North Texas, resulted in 244 arrests in one week this past spring. The perpetrators caught by Jeff Rich and Chris Meehan have no “typical” profile, coming from “different social and economic backgrounds” and professional groups, including police officers, pilots, doctors, and lawyers.

For Chris Meehan and Jeff Rich, the work is deeply meaningful. They cannot “just turn off the phone” because “things happen constantly”. Their success changes futures, even offering relief to some suspects who are “relieved to have been exposed”.

The dedication of detectives Jeff Rich and Chris Meehan, combined with critical forensic technology like TALINO, is crucial in stopping the flow of darkness online.

Chris Meehan and Jeff Rich have known each other since childhood. Today they are in daily contact and spend many hours in the secret office in Texas.

Source Credit: Based on an article by Adrianna Pavlica, GP’s US reporter.

Read the original article here: https://www.gp.se/nyheter/varlden/usas-framsta-cyberdetektiver-utger-sig-for-att-vara-barn.31896b19-33e1-4d27-b856-e017610ca784