by arthur Weinreb, associate Editor,
February 8, 2005
During the past three years, pictures of the same little girl have surfaced during seizures of child pornography collections. The police have watched her grow up from the age of nine to 12 which is the estimate of her current age. according to Toronto police, these pictures are must-haves amongst the bad-guy collectors; over half of those who have been found to be in possession of child pornography in the last few years have had pictures of this same little girl.
Some of the confiscated pictures were made in a hotel and using advanced technology, Toronto police removed the girl from these photographs and posted them and released them to the media. Within an hour of the pictures being made public, calls came pouring in.
One of the early telephone calls was from a Toronto area man who said that the pictures looked like a hotel in Florida that he had stayed in only two weeks previously. after emailing pictures that he had taken at the hotel to one of the investigating officers, the police had announced that they had found the establishment.
although Toronto police would not release the name or exact location of the hotel, Orlando police confirmed that it was the Disney-owned Port Orleans Riverside Resort in their city. They are currently examining the hotel records in an attempt to establish the identity of the girl and her abusers.
analyses of other pictures have convinced authorities that the girl lives in either the southeastern part of Canada or in northeastern United States. Police now say they face a dilemma — whether or not to release a picture of the little girl’s face in an attempt to find her.
There should be no "dilemma". The police, if they are really interested in the welfare of this young victim should release her picture. as there are in most things in life, there is a downside. More people throughout North america will know who she is after she and her abusers are found. On top of being violently sexually abused for at least three years, she will face the additional embarrassment of some knowing who she is. and there will undoubtedly similar looking 12-year-old girls who will be have remarks made to them by other children while their fathers receive dirty looks. But the notion that privacy concerns are somehow more important than stopping the continuing criminal acts, including acts of violence, that are being subjected on this innocent little girl is absurd.
There is no doubt that if this girl had been abducted by a stranger her picture would be distributed everywhere; even continually in amber alerts if the circumstances warranted it. There would be nothing to consider. Police would take action, not ponder, reflect and
Everyone remembers Elizabeth Smart — the 14-year-old who was kidnapped from her Salt Lake City bedroom during the summer of 2002. Her picture was widely circulated until she was found months later after being taken as a "wife" by one of her abductors. Despite some criticism of the police for the way the investigation was handled, there was no criticism about the fact that Elizabeth’s picture had been widely circulated. It was the release of those pictures that led to her rescue while walking down a street with "her new family".
The fact that the police are hesitating leads to the conclusion that somehow being abused by someone with parental control is not as serious as being abused by a stranger. It almost seems like the fact that the physical and sexual abuse that has been inflicted on this 12-year-old is somehow not as important as finding the people who are downloading her images.
There is no guarantee of course that release of the girl’s picture could lead to her being found and arrests made. However the chance that someone might see her picture and recognize it, as the Toronto man who recognized the hotel, could mean there is a chance that she could be located within hours and her long ordeal ended. What are the police waiting for?
It should not come as a surprise that in this all too politically correct society, privacy concerns seem to take precedence over continual attacks on a helpless young girl that are not only sexual, but extremely violent. after all, we live in a country where the government refuses to release pictures of dangerous illegal immigrants because of "privacy concerns".
If the police are really serious about finding this girl and putting an end to her trauma, they wouldn’t think twice about releasing her picture.