Connecticut ICAC Task Force Forensic Capacity Hiring Program for Wounded Veterans

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 resource 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 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 goal of this initiative is to hire wounded, injured, or ill veterans to (1) serve as analysts to enhance the digital forensic examination capacity of select ICAC task forces; (2) improve task force effectiveness to prevent, interdict, investigate, and prosecute Internet crimes against children and technology-facilitated child exploitation; and (3) reduce forensic examination backlogs and/or increase the number of forensic exams completed by ICAC task forces during the project period. OJJDP requires agencies to select personnel for the position(s) from a pool of eligible HERO Child Rescue Corps candidates; however, task forces that are unable to fill the position with a HERO candidate may be permitted to consider other identified wounded, injured, or ill veteran candidates.

The Connecticut ICAC Task Force will use grant funds to train a wounded veteran to analyze an additional 50-75 cases during the grant period, bringing the backlog down by at least 12 to 15 percent annually. Measurements will be collected monthly for ICAC statistics and will include the number of forensic exams completed, the number of reductions in backlog and the number of prosecuted cases. Funds will not be used for research purposes. CA/CF