TPD's Cyber Crimes Unit Focuses On Protecting Kids

The Tulsa Police Department's cyber crimes unit is busier than ever, but they can't possibly investigate all computer crimes, so they focus on protecting children.

If you've been scammed by someone online or your computer has been hacked or you're the victim of revenge porn, which is when your ex posts your nude pictures on a porn website, don't call cyber crimes.

The unit only has four detectives in a city of 400,000 so they have to decide which cases are a priority. Most scam and hacking cases are committed by people in other countries, and with revenge porn, there's just no way for them to track down every picture.

"What if your significant other shared it with 50 people? You can't find all 50 people who saved it and sent it out, it's just impossible," said Sgt. Jeremy Noland with TPD Cyber Crimes.

So, it's like triage in a hospital. Even though all cases are serious, they have to focus on the most critical.

"The unit, we have four people, so we focus mostly on crimes against children because there's plenty of them to go around," Noland said. 

Cyber investigations take a lot of manpower to get search warrants for apps, social media accounts and devices, then, to go through the devices that can have tens of thousands of images. Next, interviews with victims, witnesses and suspect and then finally, compiling the report for the district attorney.

"It's kind of tough. We have to pick and choose and be very selective in our cases," Noland said. 

They said people can protect themselves from the other computer crimes, by remembering two things: people use the internet to trick or harm you and once you send something digitally, you can never get it back.

If you are a victim of scamming, hacking or revenge porn, you can fill out a police report at tulsapolice.org but you're better off contacting the website directly, to see if they can help you.