A police department has apologized to the father of an 11-year-old girl and said it will investigate after doorbell camera footage captured two officers telling the dad his daughter could face child porn charges for sending images of herself to a man she met online.
The apology comes after the parent posted to TikTok a now-viral video of his conversation with two Columbus, Ohio, officers who were responding to the man’s complaint that an adult was grooming his underage child.
The video featured a caption that stated the man’s daughter was a victim of an “online predator.”
“She’s 11,” he wrote. “He’s a grown man. He manipulated her into sending pictures of herself! This was the police response at midnight. We called at 6.”
According to a dispatch log, obtained by The Associated Press, the father called 911 just before 7 p.m. on Sept. 14. The dispatcher told him they would send a female officer. However, two officers – a man and a woman – didn’t show up until after midnight.
Video footage shows the father informing the officers his daughter is asleep and saying he was hoping they could help talk to her about the seriousness of the situation.
“I just want her to realize what this was,” the man says. “I mean, reality is not much I probably can do about it, is there?”
The female officer quickly tells him that his daughter could be charged with creating sexually explicit content.
“I mean, she can probably get charged with child porn,” the female officer says.
The father protests, pointing out her young age and saying she’s being manipulated by an adult.
“Doesn’t matter,” she says. “She’s still making porn.”
“No, she’s not,” the man responds in the video. “She’s being manipulated by a grown a– adult on the internet.”
The officer responds: “Is she taking pictures, though?”
At that point, the father ends the conversation, telling the officers to have a nice evening, and goes back into the house.
“My expectation is that our officers treat every victim of crime with compassion, decency, and dignity. What I saw in that video did not reflect that — which is why we referred this case to the Inspector General,” Columbus police Chief Elaine R. Bryant said in a statement posted to social media Tuesday.
“I want to make clear — this incident does not reflect the Division as a whole. Our officers do outstanding work to bring comfort and justice to victims every day. As soon as we learned of this incident, we immediately reached out to the father to apologize, and to assure him that this matter was being fully investigated — both the actions of this officer, and more importantly, any crime committed against his child.
“As I have said from my first day on the job — when our officers do the right thing, we will have their back. When they don’t, we will hold them accountable.”
The dad who posted the video, speaking to CNN, said this is the first time he’s ever contacted police in his life. It was his mom who encouraged him to call police because “this man could hurt other people.”
He told the outlet his daughter had been communicating with the man over Instagram and Snapchat and that he found inappropriate messages and images on her phone. He said the man is still attempting to contact his daughter.
“She doesn’t understand what all is happening,” he said. “I don’t want my baby to go through this again. She needs to be safe.”
Despite the police chief’s statement referring to the child as a victim, Columbus police have not responded to questions about whether she could still face charges.
A police spokesperson has also not answered whether any other children have faced charges in Columbus under Ohio’s laws about child sexual abuse material. It is unclear whether the department has a policy regarding charging minors with those crimes.
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