New Hampshire ICAC Task Force Program

The mission of the New Hampshire ICAC Task Force is to identify, investigate, and arrest criminals who use digital technologies to exploit children for personal or commercial gain. Concentrated efforts include the following activities: (1) Reactive investigations designed to prevent the manufacturing and distribution of child sexual abuse images; (2) Proactive undercover investigations to monitor and infiltrate social networking sites and online chat rooms where a suspect poses a credible threat to children in cases such as: Sexual solicitation, kidnapping, extortion, terrorizing, or any act which by its nature endangers a juvenile; (3) CyberTip Investigations in cases such as: Child abuse and child neglect investigations as well as reports of missing children, Human Trafficking and Child Prostitution; (4) Proactive and reactive investigations into online merchants which purport to provide or facilitate services that exploit or endanger children; (5) Providing technical and digital forensic assistance to the New Hampshire State Police’s Child Abduction Response Team (CART); (6) Provide assistance to prosecutorial efforts on the state and federal level through training and support; (7) Provide assistance to any law enforcement agency where ICAC technical and practical law enforcement expertise may facilitate a resolution to a criminal investigation.

The National Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force Program, consists of state and local law enforcement task forces dedicated to developing effective responses to online enticement of children by sexual predators, child exploitation, and child obscenity and pornography cases. Each State and local task force that is part of the national program shall: 1) consist of State and local investigators, prosecutors, forensic specialists, and education specialists who are dedicated to addressing the goals of the task force; 2) engage in proactive investigations, forensic examinations, and effective prosecutions of Internet crimes against children; 3) provide forensic, preventive, and investigative assistance to parents, educators, prosecutors, law enforcement, and others concerned with Internet crimes against children; 4) develop multijurisdictional, multiagency partnerships and responses to Internet crimes against children offenses through ongoing informational, administrative, and technological support to other State and local law enforcement agencies, as a means for such agencies to acquire the necessary knowledge, personnel, and specialized equipment to investigate and prosecute such offenses; 5) participate in nationally coordinated investigations in any case in which the Attorney General determines such participation to be necessary, as permitted by the available resources of such task force; 6) establish or adopt investigative and prosecution standards consistent with established norms, to which such task force shall comply; 7) investigate, and seek prosecution on tips related to Internet crimes against children, including tips from Operation Fairplay, the National Internet Crimes Against Children Data System, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's CyberTipline, ICAC task forces, and other Federal, State, and local agencies, with priority being given to investigate leads that indicate the possibility of identifying or rescuing child victims, including investigative leads that indicate a likelihood of seriousness of offense or dangerousness to the community; 8) develop procedures for handling seized evidence for ICAC task force lead agencies and affiliate agencies; 9) maintain reports required by OJJDP and other reports and records as determined by the Attorney General; and, 10) seek to comply with national standards regarding the investigation and prosecution of Internet crimes against children, as set forth by the Attorney General, to the extent such standards are consistent with the law of the State where the task force is located. 

The New Hampshire ICAC Task Force will continue to identify and investigate criminals who use digital technologies to exploit children for personal or commercial gain. The New Hampshire ICAC Task Force will focus on: reactive investigations designed to prevent the manufacturing and distribution of child sexual abuse images; proactive undercover investigations to monitor and infiltrate social networking sites and online chat rooms in cases such as sexual solicitation and sextortion; CyberTip investigations in cases of child abuse and neglect, human trafficking, and child prostitution; providing technical and digital forensic assistance to the New Hampshire State Police's Child Abduction Response Team; providing technical assistance to law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies; and conducting proactive and reactive investigations into online merchants which purpose to provide or facilitate serves that exploit or endanger children. Funding under this project will support personnel, equipment, software, training, and other associated costs to achieve the goals and objectives of the ICAC Task Force Program.