Thirty seconds is all it takes for a sexual predator to begin to entice a child via the Internet.

Bryan Fischer, a detective with the Helena Police Department who often poses as a child to help nab offenders, said it is amazing "how quickly the conversation goes from casual to sexually explicit."

To prove his point to those gathered at Thursday morning's Hometown Helena meeting, Fischer showed excerpts from an actual conversation he had with a man on a gaming Web site.

The conversation starts seemingly innocent enough during the 10 a.m. chat. Then once the "boy" portrayed by Fischer tells the man he is home alone during spring break, the man starts to ask about his sexual habits, about 30 seconds into the interaction. Within two minutes, the man is asking about the "boy's" sexual orientation and whether he watches pornography.

"That's how quick these things will happen," he said.

Special Agent with the FBI, Kevin Damuth, added that sometimes within the first few minutes of a chat, the offender will begin to send explicit photos.

Fischer said some predators reveal their criminal intentions within the first few minutes of meeting someone online, while others prefer to cultivate the appearance of a relationship before asking for or sending lewd photos or videos.

Since 2006, the state has seen an increase of about 200 percent in the amount of Internet crimes against children, Fischer said.

"You'd be surprised by the number of people on the Internet at any given time -- the amount is staggering," he said. "At any given time 10 million people are trading porn online worldwide."

In January, a new task force began to tackle those cases.

Since the beginning of the year, the Montana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which includes local, state and federal agencies, has been involved in 171 child pornography related investigations. According to task-force coordinator Tim West, 56 of those cases were referred to agencies for prosecution and seven arrests have been made. In addition, 17 search warrants have been conducted and 57 subpoenas have been issued in that time.

Damuth said all the agencies involved, including authorities from police departments, sheriffs' offices, the U.S. Attorney's Office, the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, are working well together and the number of cases is what they expected to tackle.

The task force has offices in Helena, Billings and Missoula. Fischer is one of five full-time investigators. Helena was chosen as a satellite for the task force based on the activity in the area and the Helena Police Department's support, West said.

Fischer concentrates on the Helena area but also aids other agencies statewide. In 2007, he was involved in 30 investigations.

The number of people producing child pornography is growing because production is becoming increasingly easier, law enforcement officials say.

People can take photos and videos with their cell phones and then transmit the images all around the world in minutes, Fischer said.

One of the charges of the task force is community education. Members give presentations like Thursday's to adults and children. The goal of the task force is to protect children from pedophiles and also teach children how to protect themselves.

The Internet has become a way of life for children, who use the computer to socialize on sites such as MySpace and Facebook, Fischer said. Many times, the children know more about computers than their parents, which can lead to problems.

Fischer encouraged parents to ask questions about their kids' Internet use and stay involved. He said parents should stand over their children's shoulders while the kids are online and know which accounts they have and what their passwords.

"If your kid has a MySpace account, by God look at it," Helena Police Chief Troy McGee added.

If children have cell phones, Fischer said he encourages parents to get plans with only calls and no Internet or texting capabilities.

McGee said one of the most important points to get out to the public is that viewing child pornography is a federal crime.

"It's a very serious issue. People in general don't see how serious it is," McGee said.

Reporter Angela Brandt:

447-4078 or angela.brandt@helenair.com