FY09 recovery Act-ICAC: Building Forensic Capacity Through Examiner Support and Employment

The Michigan State Police ICAC Task Force ($ 1,094,876) will use ARRA grant funds to retain a full-time Digital Forensic Examiner position for the duration of two years (salary, no fringe). This position will insure that MI ICAC has a represented member of the Wayne County Sheriff Department on the Task Force. The Michigan ICAC will partially fund (50%) a dedicated ICAC Prosecuting Attorney. The Michigan ICAC will also create five new full-time Digital Forensic Examiner positions (DFE's) for the duration of two years (salary, no fringe). These positions will insure that MI ICAC has sufficient personnel to reduce the forensic examination backlog statewide. The Michigan ICAC will create a full-time Grant Specialist position for the duration of two years (salary, plus fringe). This position will insure that MI ICAC has a dedicated grant specialist on the Task Force. This position will encompass all federal financial status reporting, scheduling, and coordination/distribution of grant funding to partner agencies.

This grant program is authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5) (the 'Recovery Act') and by the Providing Resources, Officers, and Technology to Eradicate Cyber Threats to Our Children Act of 2008, (P.L. 110-401, codified at 42 USC 17601 - 17616) ('the PROTECT Act'). The stated purposes of the Recovery Act are: to preserve and create jobs and promote economic recovery; to assist those most impacted by the recession; to provide investments needed to increase economic efficiency by spurring technological advances in science and health; to invest in transportation, environmental protection, and other infrastructure that will provide long-term economic benefits; and to stabilize State and local government budgets, in order to minimize and avoid reductions in essential services and counterproductive State and local tax increases.

The Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force Program seeks to maintain and expand State and regional ICAC task forces to address technology-facilitated child exploitation. These task forces work collaboratively as a national network of law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies that prevent, interdict, and investigate Internet crimes against children. The program requires existing task forces to develop multijurisdictional, multiagency responses to such offenses by providing funding and other support to State and local law enforcement agencies as a means to help them acquire the necessary knowledge, personnel, and equipment.

NCA/CF