PeeJ Profile
Contributor: Del Harvey
Year of Birth: 1982
Location: California
Join date: December 2003
Busts:: Link
Position: Law Enforcement Coordinator


The first subject of our new PeeJ Profiles feature is Del Harvey, one of the co-administrators here at Perverted-Justice.com. Del is a 23 year old female from California and also in charge of our Information First program. It's also likely that if you received a reply from "feedback@perverted-justice.com", it was authored by the woman in the picture above.

Recently Del sat down to give her thoughts about her experience volunteering at Perverted-Justice.com and to talk about how she went from simply signing up for the forums to telling perverts that she needs to brush her teeth on our Dateline NBC specials. In the coming months other Perverted-Justice.com contributors and volunteers will be profiled as some of the incredible people that make this place run are spotlighted.

Question session conducted January 2006
Q: How long have you been with the website and what motivated you to join?

Del Harvey: I've been with the website in some form since December of 2003, when a friend sent me a link to the forums. I checked out the website and was impressed with what I saw--a group of civilians doing their best to make a difference. Also, when I was younger, I spent a summer working in a mental institution, and I spent much of my time working with the children there, ranging in age from 11 to 17. Easily 85% of these children had been abused or molested when they were younger, and that abuse changed them for life. It was a first-hand demonstration of why I could and would back this cause with every ounce of passion that I have.

Q: When you joined in December of 2003, you were just another new forumite. Now you're the LE coordinator, appeared on all three Dateline's... how long did it take to go from "being a newbie" to being one of the most prolific people in the organization?

Del Harvey: For me, a combination of coincidences took place in order for me to rise in the ranks as quickly as I did. In December of 2003, I joined the forums and immediately threw myself into doing follow-up work. I spent all of December, January, and much of February in those forums, and on February 18th, Xavier asked me if I would be interested in being a contributor. I agreed immediately, and my training began. Late February, I got a phone call from Frag; they were looking for someone to do phone verifications for Dateline I. I agreed to that too, and I was off to New York. In May, I took over doing the majority of the feedback e-mails that the site received; in July, we started the official Information First program (our way of liasioning with police) and I became an official co-administrator for the site; in August, I was a part of the Taylor recovery; in September, we taped Dateline II, and now, in January, we've taped Dateline III.

Technically, I suppose it took about half a year; however, the truth of the matter is that my roles within this organization have been constantly evolving and changing and probably will do so for much time to come.

Q: How "hard" would you say the work was to become a contributor, and more importantly, how difficult has the volunteer position been after becoming one?

Del Harvey: It's not a question of "hard," per se. It's a question of how dedicated you're willing to be, how focused you are on the cause. I won't say it's easy; there is a tremendous amount of work involved. On any given day, there's e-mails to respond to, numerous phone calls to return, contributors to advise, threads and posts to read, and many, many other aspects that people don't even take into consideration. However, at the same time, it's very, very much worth it to know at the end of the day that you made a difference.

Q: How much time would you say you put into this a week?

Del Harvey: I easily put anywhere from 80 to 90 hours or more into the website per week. This isn't a position you should apply for if you don't have a true passion for what you would be doing.

Q: Can you think of three of the most notable happenings you've been personally involved in, and why each sticks out in your mind?

Del Harvey: Each of the Dateline stories have, of course, been notable; however, counting those as the same sort of happening, the other two most notable occurrences for me have been the Kylie Taylor recovery (and subsequent meeting of her and her mother on Montel) and one of my first busts, fleet_captain_jaime_wolfe, also known as Paul Short. While Dateline's reason for sticking out is obvious, the reason that Kylie Taylor sticks out in my mind is because of one simple phone call. The morning after Kylie was returned to her home (due to Frag and Xavier locating the IP), I got a phone call. The person said "Is Del Harvey there?" I said yes . . . and then heard the words that will stick in my mind forever. "This is Kylie Taylor. I wanted to thank you for saving my life."

As for fleet_captain, he was my first arrest, and by far the sickest man that I talked to throughout my tenure with Perverted-Justice.com. It's comforting to know that he will be a registered sex offender for the rest of his life, and that as of this interview in January of 2006, he is still in jail.

Q: Fleet Captain has been consistently voted as the "most disgusting" or "most slimy" chat-log the website has seen, was that difficult to handle as a new volunteer at the time or was something that depraved something you expected going in?

Del Harvey: I don't think anything would have prepared me for that conversation. At the time that the conversation took place, back in March of 2004, long chatlogs weren't quite as common--and a chatlog weighing in at 40 single-spaced typed pages was not common at all, particularly one filled with references to beastiality, kidnapping, rape, and severe abuse. It was absolutely tough to handle, but I had (and still have) a wonderful support group in place within the contributor group. People don't realize just how sophisticated the "behind the scenes" workings of Perverted-Justice.com really are; there's rules and regulations in place for virtually everything, even to the point of how to cope with a particularly disturbing log. There's always someone to talk to about how you're feeling and how you're dealing with it.

Q: You've been with the site long enough to see and hear all the various misconceptions levied against it, which misconception really sticks out to you and what's your response to it?

Del Harvey: The oddest misconception for me is that the site is made up of a bunch of middle-aged men who get their rocks off doing this kind of work. Obviously, I'm neither middle-aged nor male, but even more importantly, I can't think of any time that I've gotten an undue amount of pleasure out of what I do. There's satisfaction, yes, and happiness in knowing that it's a job that should be done and is being done, but there's nothing in terms of "getting my rocks off."

Q: That is a strange one. What would you say is the biggest "negative" about working with the organization that you've run across?

Del Harvey: I'm not sure it's a negative, per se, but working with Perverted-Justice.com has made me far more aware of the issues regarding child abuse and molestation in our society. As a result, little things that might otherwise be overlooked or passed over stick out more to me, and I find myself paying more attention to unattended kids to make sure nothing untoward happens.

Q: What are your personal goals for the future when it comes to your volunteership to Perverted-Justice.com?

Del Harvey: Frankly, I plan to stay with Perverted-Justice.com for as long as it exists. My job continuously challenges and fascinates me, and the members of law enforcement I work with are wonderful. There are so many great men and women that I've met through this website that I can't imagine ever leaving. My personal goals are to bring the Information First program to fruition, with agreements covering the entire nation. Other than that, I want to make sure that Perverted-Justice.com continues its reign as the most effective anti-predator organization in the United States (and, for all practical purposes, the world).

Q: Lastly, is there anything you want to mention that people may not know about the website, you, or a message in general for people reading this?

Del Harvey: While I mentioned this in passing before, people really have no idea what an effective organization we are. We are asked regularly to train police agencies in areas that do not currently have an internet crimes taskforce; we provide programs that are coded in-house to agencies at all levels; we are, essentially, one of the most commonly used resources now by law enforcement in general. That's something that will only increase as time goes by. Also, we say that Perverted-Justice.com is a volunteer-run organization, and that's something that will never change. There is a place for everyone who supports this cause with us, and there always will be. It's worth your time to join the forums and check things out.

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