With millions of Internet users below 18 years of age, who are more and more alarmingly exposed to sexual cyber-predators, authorities in New York and New Jersey have yet to create a special unit responsible for overseeing Internet chat rooms in Spanish.

However, according to spokespeople from both states, if suspicious activity is observed or reported whether or not it is not directed specifically at a Latino Internet user, investigators will intervene. It has been demonstrated that pedophiles use chat rooms to contact minors for illicit sex.

Maritere Arce, spokesperson for the office of State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, said: “We don’t have a unit specialized in Spanish (chat rooms), but as soon as we receive a complaint it is investigated.”

“We have many agents who speak other languages and work with the investigative units when we need them,” added Sergeant Stephen Jones of the Office of Public Information of the New Jersey Police Department.

According to a ranking official connected with the unit in charge of cyber-predators in the New Jersey, “the unit is not focused yet on the Hispanic community. However, if something suspicious in Spanish pops up during our constant monitoring, it is assigned to a Hispanic investigator.”

Several District Attorney Offices in the Garden State consulted by El Diario/La Prensa, which have units to combat this type of crime, did not specify whether their investigations include chat rooms in Spanish; however, they assured that they have Spanish-speaking personnel.

Robert O'Leary of the Union County District Attorney’s office, said, “We have a technology team in charge of investigating the cases where criminals use chat rooms to look for children. But O’Leary did not specify if that team covered chats in Spanish.

Similarly, Detective Sergeant Andrew Donofrio of the Bergen County District Attorney’s Office, said: “I can’t specify the type of investigations that we work on, but every detected case is investigated.”

The mother of a 16-year-old, who asked not to be identified, reiterated that “it’s important that constant monitoring happen in Spanish, because my daughter left home based on promises made by someone she met in a chat room. Fortunately, she came back, but in many cases that doesn’t happen.”

At a national level, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) maintains the Innocent Images National Initiative to detect networks of pedophiles, detain sexual predators who use the Internet, assist families, and rescue victims. The federal agency undertakes monitoring of material in several different languages.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children estimates that more than 25 million Internet users are younger than 18. A report from 2000 indicated that one of every five minors who participated in a chat room received a sexual proposition, and one of every four was sent photographs of naked people or people having sex.

Only a third of parents in homes with Internet access possess safety measures on their computers to block sexual intrusion.

Last January, New Jersey signed a law that makes it a crime to use the Internet to mislead someone; the offense is punishable up to five years in jail and $15,000 in fines.