Crimes Against Children Investigations Increasing

Central and Northeast Missouri are seeing an increase in crimes against children, especially child sex crimes.

Skip McGuire, Chief of the Missouri State Technical Assistance Team within the Missouri Division of Youth Services says the crimes aren’t typically the type of crimes that people call 9-1-1 for.

More funding has been made available through the Missouri Legislature in recent years for the investigative team, which is helping detect more of the crimes, but a large percentage go unreported.

McGuire says a large portion of child sex crimes are committed by those who have ready access to the children, including family members.

Parents, he says, need to be more vigilant in knowing what their child is accessing on their phones.