Satanism is on the rise in America, according to a law enforcement expert at a three-day seminar at NIU.

Robert Simandl, a 23-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department, spoke about the effects of Satanism on our society.

“I got involved with this eight years ago when I attended a seminar in California. I couldn’t believe how ignorant we were in law enforcement,” he said.

Simandl, who conducted interviews with the children in the recent McMartin day care case, spoke extensively about the effects of Satanism upon the youth of America.

He said that there are four levels of involvement in satanic cults.

“There are experimental, self-stylized, organized and occult network groups operating in this country. In terms of total numbers of people involved in this, we haven’t any idea,” Simandl said.

He said that there are no experts in the field of Satanism and parents and police need to keep rational and not over or under react.

“Many people are sensationalizng and overexaggerating this issue. This causes a lot of other people to write this topic off because it seems so exaggerated,” Simandl said.

Police need to focus on Satanism’s criminal aspects, Simandl said. The prevention of suicide and criminal activity are the primary concerns of law enforcement, he said.

“I’m not here to address your religious beliefs. I’m not going to debate the validity of Satanism as a religion. I’m concerned with its criminal aspects,” he said.

“Anything is permissible so long as you don’t break the law,” Simandl said.

He said that one of the problems in wiping out Satanism is the continued denial of parents and law enforcement officials alike.

The refusal to take the issue seriously has resulted in a consistent lack of thorough investigations by police, particularly in cases involving cemetery robberies, Simandl said.

“Documentation by the police is necessary. Don’t take cemetery crimes lightly,” he said.

It also has resulted in the deaths of many children who might have been saved if parents had admitted what was really happening, he said.

He also said that it is necessary to take children seriously without overreacting.

“Just because a kid has an Iron Maiden T-shirt on and an inverted cross hanging from his ear doesn’t mean the kid’s a Satanist. They might just be emulating the actions of their favorite rock band,” Simandl said.

Obsessive behavior is what parents should be looking for, he said.

Kids drawing hundreds of pages of Satanic or overtly negative emblems and talking obsessively about death should be monitored, Simandl said.

“If a kid paints his room black and builds an altar, then you’ve got a problem,” he said.

About 100 people attended the first day of the seminar. However, no law enforcement officials would comment on the seminar.

“It’s been an excellent conference so far. I’ll be looking for signs of this sort of thing from now on,” said Denise Curren, a counselor at DeKalb’s Clinton Rosette Elementary School.