CLEVELAND, Tenn. — Behind his office door, sitting among state-of-the-art computers and piles of Manila folders filled with suspects’ names, Detective Dewayne Scoggins trolls MySpace and Facebook.
In the evening, he’ll turn on the television and watch “The Secret Life of an American Teenager,” too.
For the detective, these activities are just a part of his job.
Learning to think like a 21st century teenager is one of the challenges in being a part of an Internet Crimes Against Children task force — a force more agencies are adding to their departments.
“If you watch teenage shows on TV, you get a little insight as to what is current,” said Detective Scoggins, who is part of the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office’s Internet Crimes Against Children task force. “That’s what the predators are doing. They’re actually getting to know the people they are interested in by learning their patterns of behaviors.”