JACKSON, Miss.–At any given moment there could be over 2,000 people in Mississippi downloading child pornography. That number comes from Atty. Gen. Jim Hood’s office, whose investigators try and pinpoint who’s doing it to get warrants and arrest predators. With the help of some federal money, the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force will stay in operation.
The Task Force was formed in 2007 when a grant came from the U.S. Dept. of Justice. That same federal agency has now provided $292,281 to keep it on track, said Hood.
The task force is dedicated to proactive and reactive investigations, the forensic analyses of electronic evidence, prosecutions of technological crimes against children and the education of law enforcement and the public. The Mississippi unit now has 60 local, state and federal law enforcement affiliate agencies and multi-disciplinary partners.
“The task force provides critical administrative and computer forensic support to strengthen our fight against online exploitation of our children,” said Hood. “This grant award will significantly benefit the Mississippi’s ICAC task force primarily by continued funding of ICAC investigator positions, an educational specialist, trainings and equipment for law enforcement affiliates, and support for the ICAC forensic labs.”
“As a father, I worry about the dramatic increase in the numbers of our vulnerable children and teenagers who use the internet to share personal information on social networking sites. We must continue to provide our law enforcement officers with the funds they need to ensure that the Internet is not a refuge for pedophiles and child pornographers targeting our young people,” said Hood.
