The real life special victims unit and handling of incest and other sexual crimes by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s department is discussed with retired LA County Sheriff’s Lt. Thomas Sirkel. We discuss the intentional minimizing of investigation against incest and child abuse by the Sheriff’s department, and the media involvement in child abuse cases during To Catch A Predator in this Media Mayhem with host Allison Hope Weiner.

Thomas Sirkel retired in 2008 from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department after more than 39 years of dedicated service. He retired as Operations and Training Lieutenant of the Special Victims Bureau. In that position, he supervised, managed and led six teams of Child Abuse and Exploitation Detectives and served as the Program Manager for the Los Angeles County Regional Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement (SAFE) Team. This regional multi-agency task force was responsible for monitoring more than 14,000 registered sex offenders, conducting major sexual exploitation cases including Technology Facilitated Crimes Against Children and making safety presentations to the public. He also assisted in the creation of the Los Angeles FBI Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement (SAFE) Team in 1993 and served as its first field supervisor through 1995. This federal task force is still in existence today and is a national leader in the fight against exploitation of children.