By Anna Palecek

At an early-morning presentation in the cafeteria at Tulare’s Los Tulles Middle School, Detective Andy Garcia of the Tulare Police Department asked his audience a series of questions. Who uses the Internet? Has a computer at home? Has a Facebook or MySpace page? Sends text messages? Question after question, an entire room of middle school students raised their hands.

This past April, Tulare PD completed a series of educational outreach sessions on Internet and cellphone safety within Tulare City Schools. Over the course of one month, officers spoke to nearly 3,000 sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders.

With young people accessing the World Wide Web more than ever, the issue is now being addressed in the Valley by a program focused specifically on Internet-related issues: the Internet Crimes Against Children task force.

The Fresno ICAC was formed in October 2007 when the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office applied for grant money to start the task force. It is one of 59 such units in the nation and is funded solely by federal grants. Housed in downtown Fresno at the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement office of investigations, the task force is overseen by the Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. The Fresno ICAC includes 17 agencies in nine Central California counties.

Getting agencies on board

Detective Brian Haney of the Tulare PD began working on Internet-related investigations five years ago, partnering with FSO and ICE, though at the time the task force had yet to be formed. When the Fresno ICAC was created, his agency was one of the first to join.

Tulare PD Chief Jerry Breckinridge said the invitation from the ICAC was not only an opportunity to address the problem of child exploitation, but also for his agency to receive training and equipment from the task force.

FSO Detective Kevin Wiens focuses solely on conducting ICAC investigations and has been involved with the task force since its inception. He said that in order to join, there is a formal memorandum of understanding that’s signed by the Fresno County Sheriff and the chief or sheriff of the partnering agency. The task force provides the training and resources, in addition to potential equipment. Wiens’ goal is to have every law enforcement agency in the nine counties formally become a part of the ICAC team.

“Being a part of a national task force as a whole, we have the ability to communicate with agencies all over the United States about different investigations and resources,” Wiens said. “It’s been beneficial to us and the other agencies that are a part of the task force.”

ICAC balances proactive efforts to educate and protect children with reactive efforts, conducting investigations and gathering evidence for prosecutions.

Wiens said each agency in ICAC does some type of community outreach as part of the program. As far as educating the community, Wiens says no one age group is the focus, and as a whole, the Fresno ICAC is equipped to educate all levels from kindergarten students to parents and teachers.

“Our children are becoming so advanced at such a young age, they’re passing up the parents with their knowledge,” Wiens said. “It’s important that parents know what technology is out there and that they currently have in their homes—that their children could potentially be contacted by some form of online predator.”

Adapting to a growing need

Wiens said that the most common crime investigated by the ICAC is the possession and distribution of child pornography. Task force members like Haney, who are trained computer forensics examiners, can work undercover to catch predators, as well as gather evidence that can be used in prosecutions.

While much of the task force’s efforts focus on investigations involving child pornography, in the past two years, Wiens has also seen a spike in investigations of children producing their own sexually exploitive images. He said that children are taking pictures of themselves and distributing those images either to other children or sometimes adults.

“Children need to understand that when they’re taking (inappropriate) pictures of themselves, they’re producing child pornography, and when they send that image, they’re distributing,” Wiens said. “They’re committing multiple felony crimes where they could potentially be prosecuted and, additionally, have to register as a sex offender.”

The school presentations in Tulare warned students of this danger. Haney created a custom presentation tailored to his audience, pulling from resources like Netsmartz.org, an educational resource from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Other topics included safe ways to represent themselves online on social networking sites, along with a discussion of the detrimental effects of cyber-bullying.

The Tulare PD’s educational programs began with the middle school presentations because statistics show the age range of 11-14 is most at-risk for being victimized. With the overwhelming response of students who said that they were using these technologies, Tulare PD felt their target was right on. Breckinridge said that the next group to focus on educating would most likely be parents.

Sue Ann Hillman, Director of Curriculum at Tulare City Schools, said the Tulare PD worked with the school district to create a presentation relevant to the students. Four Tulare City Schools hosted presentations for students, in addition to two parents’ informational nights.

Hillman said the district knew it was important to complete the sessions before the summer break, when students would be spending more time online. The plan was to sit down during the summer and see how the school district and police department could partner to reach more people.

The teamwork between the police department and the school district is representative of the cooperative spirit employed by the task force. ICAC members stressed that it is a joint effort among many agencies, and success would not be possible without pooling resources and experience.

“It’s a partnership; there’s not one agency that does more than the other,” Haney said. “The glory of the task force is that you can pull from all your resources.”

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