It’s not always that easy to catch online criminals, especially when police officers are more accustomed to patrolling local streets than the information superhighway. Just as undercover agents must learn the part for any street sting, police officers are discovering they must learn the language of online criminals and how to navigate the wild world of potentially criminal Web sites.

“In the last year or so we’ve been making more of an effort when it comes to our attention to Web sites like that. We need to learn how to make ourselves comfortable in that arena,” said Belmont police Lt. Dan DeSmidt.

Just like any neighborhood, the arena of community Web sites host an array of good and bad. Officials at Craigslist defend their growing Web site and said they’re committed to helping law enforcement when necessary.

Craigslist attracts four billion page views a month, making it the seventh largest Internet site in terms of activity. It receives more than eight million classified ads per month, making it the overall leading classified ad service. The amount of illegal activity has grown, but remains small in relation to the total size of the Web site, said Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster.

“We don’t like there to be any illegal activity on the site. Fortunately, we have consistently seen over the years that the vast majority of Craigslist users are well-intentioned and law-abiding, and that the tiny percentage of illegal activity on the site is not tolerated by our many

millions of sharp-eyed users, who flag and/or report it quickly — far more effectively than any centralized system that has ever been developed,” Buckmaster said via e-mail.

Police are careful not to pick on Craigslist alone. There is also auction site eBay and MyRedBook, a Web site that solicits postings from and about prostitutes. Police utilize all the sites to catch criminals and find stolen goods, but admit crimes on Craigslist have peaked in the last two years.

Belmont police try to take a look at sites like Craigslist and eBay when they have a chance. However, there’s no one officer committed to Internet crimes and they are more likely to follow up on a tip from the public than actually find a criminal online themselves.

That’s how they found and arrested Nilesh “Nick” Govind, the 28-year-old San Carlos man trolling for teens on Craigslist. A parent called police after her daughter brought the posting to her attention. Govind posted a message on Craigslist offering money to high school girls willing to be his “girlfriend” for an hour. When police responded to the message, Govind proceeded to arrange over the Internet an exchange of money for specific sex acts with the undercover police officer.

He was arrested when, instead of a young girl, police showed up with handcuffs. Govind is expected to be arraigned on April 10, said DeSmidt.

It’s the second Craigslist arrest the department’s made. A few years ago they nabbed someone for prostitution, DeSmidt said.

To catch the criminals, officers must remain familiar with the type of language used to buy drugs and advertise illegal activity. They also struggle to stay up to speed on where people are posting their messages. Learning to navigate down the dark alleys of the Internet underworld is a learned skill, DeSmidt said.

It’s a self-taught skill that many officers pick up when they make time to check the Web sites.

The Redwood City Crime Suppression Team tries to check Web sites regularly. In the last year, they’ve worked a couple of prostitution cases, but admit the site is most helpful when they are trying to locate stolen goods. Last month, officers were able to retrieve a stolen laptop computer, said Redwood City police Sgt. Sean Hart.

“I think the big advantage of Craigslist is that it’s local,” Hart said.

That’s not to say officers don’t find what they’re looking for on eBay. When three San Carlos teen committed a series of residential burglaries in San Carlos last month, police had eBay on their list of places to look. They found the items, arranged the sale and found where the kids lived. The boys, between the ages of 15 and 16, were arrested and booked into Hillcrest Juvenile Hall.

While police are sharpening their skills, the amount of sex crime cases stemming from Web sites that are sent to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office remains low, said Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.

Dana Yates can be reached by e-mail: dana@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106. What do you think of this story? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.