In April of 2003 the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) of the United States Department of Justice awarded the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office a grant which enabled the Attorney General’s Office to establish the Louisiana ICAC Task Force. The Louisiana ICAC Task Force in an interagency, multi-jurisdictional task force whose purpose is to share information, resources and expertise in the investigation, prosecution and deterrence of online sexual exploitation of children. The Louisiana Task Force is part of a cooperative nationwide network of ICAC Task Forces that are dedicated to protecting children in the online environment.
The Attorney General’s Office heads up the task force and incorporated the task force into its already existing High Technology Crime Unit. The Attorney General assigned a prosecutor, an investigator and a computer forensic examiner to work full time on the task force. Additionally, there are currently over eighty federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies across the state of Louisiana who assigned agents to the task force.
Louisiana, like all other states, has an ever increasing problem with regard to the sexual exploitation of children. Children’s trusting natures have always made them vulnerable to victimization. However the Internet, while bringing a whole world of information to Louisiana children, has also brought with it an emerging and fast growing new medium in which pedophiles can ply their crimes and perversions. With the increasing number of children online, today’s predators can easily find and exploit them.
The Mission of the Louisiana ICAC Task Force is to:
•Stop individuals who use the Internet to entice children to meet them for sexual purposes.
•Investigate and prosecute those who possess, manufacture and distribute child pornography.
•Educate the public about online dangers that exist to children.
