Suffolk police expand detective unit to deal with 'revenge' porn

The Suffolk County Police Department is dedicating more resources to investigations into “revenge porn,” or the sharing of sexually explicit photographs online out of retaliation or blackmail, Commissioner Rodney K. Harrison announced at a news conference Thursday.

With the number of reported revenge porn instances increasing, Harrison said the department has added three detectives to the Digital Forensics Unit, previously known as Computer Crimes. The detectives will work specifically on these types of reports and complaints pertaining to child pornography, the commissioner said.

“There’s been some positives in technology that have assisted in our lives, but unfortunately there is also a dark side that comes from the ability to create and share information,” Harrison said at a media briefing at police headquarters in Yaphank Thursday. “A nude image shared between intimate partners can end up becoming a piece of revenge porn, or even more disturbing, images of child pornography shared between pedophiles to exploit the most innocent members of our society.”

Suffolk County Chief of Detectives John Rowan said since making the shift in staffing within the Digital Forensics Unit, police have received 15 new cases and made two arrests with four more pending. He said one of those arrests related to child pornography.

“We have seen multiple cases in Suffolk County involving sextortion,” Rowan said.

Harrison warned victims of such crimes to not respond to the person asking them for money to stop the distribution of the images. Instead they should report the incident to a responsible adult and police, he said.

The commissioner noted that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children recently created an online platform called Take It Down, which allows potential victims of such crimes who are under the age of 18 to submit a report for help removing online nude photos or explicit photos of minors. Members of the Digital Forensics Unit will be made available to help parents file a report on behalf of their child.

Harrison said Facebook flagged more than 73 million pieces of content as child nudity and sexual exploitation in the first nine months of 2022. He added that a survey by the youth protection organization, Internet Crimes Against Children, revealed 1 in 6 children from ages 9 to 17 has shared a nude image. The organization assists law enforcement and victims in preventing the spread of the images, police said.

Suffolk County police school resource officers are also being directed to work with school administrators to increase awareness of Take It Down and how police are working with it, Harrison said.

The commissioner added that police believe only about 13% of exploitation cases are being reported in Suffolk County.

By Grant Parpan

grant.parpan@newsday.com@GrantParpan

Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.