As a father and Wisconsin’s top law enforcement official, J.B. understands how important it is to protect our children from on-line sexual predators. As a result, Attorney General Van Hollen has made fighting internet crimes against children a top priority at the Department of Justice.
Under Attorney General Van Hollen's direction the DOJ has:
- Expanded the number of agents in the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force by 67%.
- Increased the number of affiliates in the ICAC program from 22 to over 150 agencies. This has provided law enforcement with improved capabilities of aggressively going after child sex predators and educating the general public.
- Made nearly 300 arrests of child sex predators through the ICAC Task Force.
- Designated a special position within his office to be the expert in prosecuting internet sexual predators. This special position serves as a resource to District Attorney’s across Wisconsin to ensure that child sex predators are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
- Launched a public awareness campaign to warn parents of online predators.
Sadly, there are more than 15,000 Internet addresses tracing back to Wisconsin computers that are offering to share child pornography. One in seven children are sexually solicited while online and many of those encounters include solicitations to meet in person.
With these new tools in place the Department of Justice is poised to set new records for warrants executed and arrests, and put these criminals behind bars.