|
|
 |
|
The
views expressed
on this page are soley those of the author and do not
necessarily
represent the views of County News Online
|
 |
FBI News Blog
Law Enforcement
Partnerships are Key in Combating Violent Crimes Against Children
Silhouettes of Two Men Shaking Hands in Front of World MapA former
English tutor was sentenced to 30 years in prison after traveling back
and forth from the U.S. to China to molest children. A 14-year-old
kidnap victim from Spokane was rescued and his kidnappers apprehended
and eventually sentenced to long prison terms. A former teacher and
child pornographer who found himself on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted
Fugitives list was apprehended abroad and returned to the U.S.,
ultimately receiving a 25-year prison term. And five young victims were
rescued in the Dallas area during an investigation into commercial
child sex trafficking.
The common thread running through each of these cases? In addition to
the perpetrators victimizing children, each investigation involved law
enforcement collaborating with one another—sharing manpower, expertise,
resources, and, perhaps most importantly, information.
As we approach National Missing Children’s Day later this month (May
25), we reflect on the importance of law enforcement partnerships in
protecting children from becoming victims of crimes—whether through
kidnappings, violent attacks, commercial sexual exploitation, sexual
abuse, or online predators. The strategy of the FBI’s Violent Crimes
Against Children Program is to use multi-disciplinary and multi-agency
teams to investigate and help prosecute crimes that cross geographical
and jurisdictional boundaries…to identity and rescue child
victims—regardless of where the case ends up being prosecuted…and to
strengthen the capabilities of the FBI—along with our local, state,
tribal, other federal, and international law enforcement
partners—through investigative assistance, training, technical support,
and, in particular, intelligence sharing.
The FBI has its own group of intelligence analysts who are dedicated
solely to analyzing vast amounts of intelligence associated with
violent crimes against children, looking not only for identities of
criminal perpetrators and cases that can be linked together but also
for methods used by criminals, current and future threats, trends,
vulnerabilities, and gaps in intelligence. That information is then
shared with investigators in FBI field offices as well as our local,
state, national, and international partners, policy makers,
non-governmental organizations, private industries, and, increasingly,
the public.
In addition, we share information—and operational assistance—through
our 69 Child Exploitation Task Forces around the nation. More than 700
task force officers and FBI agents—representing nearly 400
agencies—work side-by-side to investigate individuals and criminal
enterprises responsible for victimizing young people. Our state and
local partners contribute vital local intelligence, while the FBI
brings a national perspective—and unique investigate tools—to the
problem.
In the global arena, the FBI coordinates the Violent Crimes Against
Children International Task Force to assist the Bureau and our foreign
counterparts with investigating complex, high-impact, multi-national
sexual crimes against children. An integral part of this international
initiative is the sharing of intelligence and case information among
members. Initiated in 2004, the task force is comprised of a select
cadre of law enforcement experts from 31 nations who have gone through
weeks of intensive training provided by the FBI and private sector
representatives.
Another important facet of our strategy to protect children from
predators and other violent criminals is partnering with non-law
enforcement entities like the National Center for Missing &
Exploited Children and the National Human Trafficking Resource Center—a
Department of Health and Human Service hotline administered under grant
by the Polaris Project.
|
|
|
|
