Hunting Predators Online - Sarah Bishop

Davidson county parents can feel a little safer tonight, that's because the Metro Police Department is starting a new program, targeting child predators who target your children on the internet. Your kids may know enough to stay away from strangers on the street but what about, the subtle strangers that sneak into your family's home? Metro Police may be watching.

Garlinda Burton loves to spend time playing with her grandaughter at the park...

And while the eight year old knows enough not to talk to strangers at the park, her grandmother says, trying to teach her about another kind of stranger is a very different story.

"She knows not to go with or talk to strangers in person, but online feels very safe... she's good on the internet too which is kind of scary," Burton says.

Now Metro Police has a new tool to help keep parents kids safe from sexual predators who try to lure their kids through the internet and chat rooms.

"They're like child psychologists in a real perverted way and they know how to entice kids and make them feel safe, so I think it's a great idea to catch them because they are just out there," Burton says.

Metro Police has received a new grant for $350,000 to fight internet crimes against children.

"We go out and proactively seek out child predators that are using the internet as a tool for them, so now we're going to use it as a tool to see if we can catch them," Capt. David Imhof says.

Metro is following suit with other agencies who've had success.

"There's several people in the state that are doing this, I know Franklin, Knoxville... there are several different agencies within the state, and we all work in conjunction as well with the TBI," Imhof says.

And now some parents are breathing a sigh of relief to know there's someone else monitoring the internet who's on their side.

Authorities hope they can even get the addresses of these predators and trace them, and make a case against themHunting Predators Online - Sarah Bishop