Officers using software to monitor sex offenders

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Don Spurlin was listening to a seminar on computer software designed to protect children from sexual predators. He wondered, why not use it to protect predators from their own impulses?

The software could be added to the computers of sex offenders who are on probation, he thought, and used to alert authorities to illicit activities.

Spurlin, a Sangamon County probation officer with a caseload full of sex offenders, got on the phone to the maker of "Cyber Sentinel." Security Software Systems had never considered using the software for law enforcement, but it welcomed the idea.

Soon the software was being tested, and it has worked so well that the county plans to require the software for offenders in the future.

"We're protecting children by preventing the offenders that we know about from being able to do the things that they'd like to do," Spurlin said.

Four Sangamon County sex offenders have Cyber Sentinel on their computers. If they go to a prohibited Web site, use sexually explicit language or even use phrases common to online predators, Spurlin gets an e-mail letting him know that probation conditions may have been violated.

'A tight rein on me'

Even the probationers don't seem to mind.

"At first, I thought that this is taking everything away from my privacy," said Jim McIntire, 33, of Springfield, who's been on probation for six years for criminal sexual abuse.

"The more I thought about it, the more I realized they've got a tight rein on me. With this, at least they know I'm on the computer and I'm not out doing something different."

Cyber Sentinel was developed to record chat room conversations, instant messages, e-mails and images that are sexually explicit, so that parents can see what their children are doing online, said Dan Jude, president of Sugar Grove-based Security Software.

To alert parents to predators who might be contacting their children online, Jude said, Cyber Sentinel relies on a library of offensive and explicit words developed with law enforcement agencies.

It even includes phrases used by offenders, such as "Do your parents use this computer?" or "Do you like older men?" and can be customized with personal information such as the child's school name, phone number and address.

Some probation offices across the country are using similar programs, said Carl Wicklund, executive director of the American Parole and Probation Association.

Can tailor key phrases

Authorities can decide which words or phrases generate an e-mail alert. "If it's just the 'F' word, the probation officer can decide whether to disable a word out of the library," Jude said.

That's what happened with McIntire, who is in counseling and wants to see the software used widely to stop others from sexual crimes.

His computer activity produced nearly 100 e-mails in just one week. It turned out just to be offensive language in a chat room McIntire was using when he played online card games. Spurlin removed some of the words from his Sentinel library.