United States Attorney Richard B. Roper
Northern District of Texas

U.S. CONGRESSMAN PETE SESSIONS JOINS
U.S. ATTORNEY RICHARD ROPER AND U.S. MARSHAL ELY TO PRESENT
$225,000 TO INTERNET CRIMES AGAINST CHILDREN TASK FORCE

DALLAS — At a ceremony this afternoon at Dallas Police Department Headquarters, U.S. Congressman Pete Sessions, of the 32nd District of Texas, along with U.S. Attorney Richard B. Roper and U.S. Marshal Randy Ely, both of the Northern District of Texas, presented a check representing $225,000 to Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle to continue funding the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force Program.

Congressman Sessions said, “The vast resources of the Internet have brought engaging learning opportunities for children as well as a new set of challenges for their safety. From government agency to local school and family home, we have the responsibility to work together to protect children from online predators. I am pleased that the grant funding will enable the Dallas Police Department to further develop effective investigative tools to catch online predators and to promote educational prevention programs to keep our children safe online.”

The ICAC Task Force Program enhances the nationwide response to child victimization by maintaining and expanding a state and local law enforcement network composed of regional task forces. In fiscal year 2007, Office of Justice Program’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) awarded approximately $17 million to fund the 59 ICAC task forces located throughout the nation. The Dallas Police Department was awarded a grant in 1998 to establish the ICAC.

U.S. Attorney Roper said, “The ICAC Task Force Program is the cornerstone of the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood initiative, which is to investigate and prosecute Internet crimes against children. The ever-increasing online presence of children, the proliferation of child pornography and the lure of predators searching for unsupervised contact with underage victims on the Internet, continue to present a significant threat to the health and safety of our children and a formidable challenge for law enforcement. While our Dallas ICAC has been hugely successful in stopping Internet criminal activity targeting children, it is important that it continues to receive the resources it needs to increase law enforcement’s pressure on child predators. This grant money will allow the ICAC to continue to effectively develop its multi-agency, multi-disciplinary responses to ICAC offenses.”

 Many factors complicate law enforcement’s response to these challenges. Law enforcement’s response is complicated because traditional jurisdictional definitions are often meaningless in cyberspace with very few investigations beginning and ending in the same geographical area. The ICAC program enhances the nationwide response to child victimization by maintaining and expanding a federal, state, and local law enforcement network composed of regional task forces. As a Project Safe Childhood partner, the ICAC program encourages communities to develop multi-jurisdictional and multi-agency responses and provides funding to state and local law enforcement agencies to help them acquire the knowledge, personnel resources, and specialized equipment needed to prevent, interdict, or investigate ICAC offenses.

Chief Kunkle said, “The Dallas Police Department is proud to be a partner and leader among local, state and federal law enforcement officials focused on protecting our youth. All crime is serious, but our officers and detectives take extra care when crimes involve precious children — the leaders of the future.” Chief Kunkle went on to say, “The Dallas Police Department will continue to use these resources to seek out, arrest and convict internet predators.”

U.S. Marshal Ely said, “The Dallas Fort Worth Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team (DFW FAST) has worked diligently with local law enforcement in pursuit of violent offenders, to include those who prey on the most innocent among us.” Marshal Ely continued, “I congratulate the Dallas Police Department on their successful Internet Crimes Against Children program and look forward to continuing a great partnership aimed at making our community safer.”

This past summer, the DFW FAST participated in Operation Falcon (Federal and Local Cops Organized Nationally), in which they demonstrated their ability to locate and arrest violent fugitives - as well as which targeted fugitives from justice and child predators. It is just another example of the success that can occur when a structure is in place that combines federal, state and local resources and it is one of the main reasons that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas tasked the US Marshals Service and DFW FAST with other Department of Justice (DOJ) initiatives such as Project Safe Neighborhood, Public Housing Safety Initiative and the Anti-Gang Initiative.

For more information on the DOJ OJJDP ICAC Task Force program, visit http://ojjdp.ncjrs.gov/programs/ProgSummary.asp?pi=3

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov

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