Laguna Beach Police Join Taskforce Fighting Child Sex Crimes

LAGUNA BEACH, CA — The Laguna Beach Police Department joined forces with law agencies across the state after joining the Internet Crimes Against Children task force.

According the Laguna Beach Police Department, the task force is designed to support the mission of protecting children against online predators. The task force was developed by the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

According to authorities, results from the task force have already been coming to fruition.

On July 10, the Counties of Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara and Ventura joined together in a two-week operation called "Online Guardian." According to authorities, the goal of the operation was to identify and arrest predators who are using the internet to get to children.

139 arrests were made over the two-week operation, the LBPD reported. The operation was accomplished through proactive undercover investigations on various social media platforms, authorities said.

“As the internet becomes increasingly embedded in our children’s lives, parents and guardians face new challenges in keeping them safe online,” Police Chief Jeff Calvert told Patch. “It is important for parents to be active participants in how their children use the internet and emphasize to never share personal information or meet offline with someone they only know from an online social media platform.”