New nonprofit helping local cops target online predators
January is Human Trafficking Prevention Month and there is a new nonprofit with strong connections to the Wenatchee Valley that is doing innovative work to help protect kids.
Theinnocent.org is a creative, community-supported response to combat the risks children face from being exploited.
The nonprofit provides training and technical assistance to small and medium-sized law enforcement agencies to conduct covert local operations to target online predators.
The founder of theinnocent.org is East Wenatchee native Nate Lewis, who had a career in the
film industry and who previously worked for an international organization combating child sex trafficking. He has partnered with some law enforcement officials who are passionate about protecting kids
and who have been looking for opportunities to emphasize the protection of children. The online threats targeting kids are an unfortunate byproduct of the digital age we are in and the countless hours kids spend on the Internet.
A year ago, Nate Lewis and Brian Lewis, a detective sergeant with the Chelan County Sheriff’s office, were invited to speak at an event at Wenatchee High School about child trafficking. The two are not related. Audience members at that event asked them what could be done in our local communities to keep kids safe and that was the catalyst for launching the nonprofit.
The organization contracts with law enforcement offers from around the region to develop the training program for small and medium-sized departments. Every person involved has a passion for keeping kids safe. The reality, I was told, is that it is frighteningly easy for predators to target kids in today’s online environment.
Brian Lewis, who previously worked for a law enforcement agency in King County, said some of the investigations he conducted at that agency led them to perpetrators in North Central Washington. He said the reality is that (trafficking) happens in North Central Washington and other small communities.
The goal of theinnocent.org is to offer specific training and other assistance such as computer resources to make it easy for these smaller agencies to do these kinds of operations on an on-going basis.
While law enforcement agencies typically commit significant resources to combating drug trafficking, most departments haven’t had the ability to conduct ongoing investigations to protect children.
Nate Lewis, the founder of the organization, said the organization raisers funds so that the training is free to law enforcement agencies. His passion for the work dates back to an incident in which he was kidnapped in Los Angeles as part of a gang initiation. While he says he wasn’t physically harmed, Lewis said the ordeal profoundly affected his sense of well-being for years. The experience gave him insight into what it’s like to lose one’s innocence.The nonprofit he launched is his way of trying to make a positive difference.
The law enforcement individuals involved with theinnocent.org contract with the nonprofit and do
not officially represent their agencies. They told me they were drawn to theinnocent.org because they are passionate about protecting children and saw an opportunity to make a difference.
To pay for the program, theinnocent.org have some large donors and are also inviting community members to help fund child sex trafficking operations by becoming individual donors
through their website.
When I met with Nate Lewis, Brian Lewis and colleague Brad Johnson, recently, they were putting the final touches on a training effort for an estimated 15 law enforcement officers from four departments in January. Johnson works as a detective sergeant with the Post Falls, ID
Police Department. They told me social media posts about their work are generating a lot of calls from agencies around the country.
The approach they are developing at theinnocent.org will hopefully give communities the
opportunity to better protect kids from being exploited and losing their innocence. That’s a project worthy of community support. They envision building a network of community supporters nationwide to help make the nation safer for kids.
As Nate Lewis likes to say, the mission is bigger than just catching those who target children. It’s about a community-wide commitment to giving kids healthy childhoods. As a community, we all have a stake in creating a healthier environment for kids.
