Policing the predators

It's a delicate dance that the undercover detectives do online. They're posing as a teenager, teasing and stringing someone along on the hope that maybe — just maybe — they can have sex. To avoid issues of entrapment, ICAC agents said they are consulted on where the legal line is — and take two steps back.

"If we're going to arrest someone for this, I want to be able to go home and sleep at night knowing that they're the ones who pushed it, they're the ones that are looking for it, they're the ones that undoubtedly wanted to meet and have sex with a younger, underage child," McQuiston said.

Some police do take issue with TV shows like Dateline NBC's "To Catch a Predator" series. Wildly popular in the ratings, the show has been criticized for blurring the line of enticing predators.

"We want to catch the bad guy, make no mistake about it. But we never want to catch the bad guy by breaking the rules," Wallentine said.

The ICAC task force averages more than one arrest a week, he said. Last year, 71 people were arrested in ICAC busts. That includes the affiliated agencies from counties and cities across the state.

"We also have affiliates in Idaho," Ahearn added.

Parental controls

On a quiet Saturday night, the unmarked police cars pull into a Tooele neighborhood and park on the side of the street. The agents, already clad in bulletproof vests and police jackets, line up and finalize their approach.

In a line, they march up the street toward the house. The officer in front holds a battering ram. Their movements draw the attention of neighbors, who gather on their lawns to watch what's going on.

A boy on in-line skates slides to a stop near the police.

"What's wrong?" he asks, looking at the officers. "Whoa."

An agent bangs on the door.

"Police! Search warrant!" he shouts.

The door swings open and guns are drawn.

"Get down on the ground! Get down on the ground!" agents shout as they move quickly inside.

The ICAC task force is serving a search warrant for child pornography, believed to have been traded over file sharing peer-to-peer networks. Tracking down people who trade in child pornography is another large component of the ICAC task force's workload. An arrest warrant is expected to be issued in the coming weeks, Wallentine said.

A half-hour after they storm the home, agents come out carrying computer towers. In this home, authorities said some of the computers were found in a bedroom.

It's something that authorities frown upon.

"Move computers out of isolated areas into areas where parents can walk by and see," McQuiston said. "Children will complain and say they deserve some privacy on the Internet. We think if they're under 18, parents should have their passwords."

It's not a violation of their personal space, he insists.