Authorities stepping up efforts to combat child exploitation in North Alabama and the nation

The National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction: Report to Congress Aug. 2010: http://www.projectsafechildhood.gov/docs/natstrategyreport.pdf

It is a bit of grandstanding; however, the US Marshals are conducting regular compliance sweeps these days so it is good to be mindful of these type of announcements:


http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2010/08/authorities_stepping_up_effort.html

Authorities stepping up efforts to combat child exploitation in north Alabama and nation

Published: Monday, August 02, 2010, 3:30 PM

KENT FAULK-- BIRMINGHAM NEWS

Two undercover operations have been launched to target online child exploitation in north Alabama, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Birmingham announced today.

The federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency in Birmingham and the Hoover Police Department are conducting one operation and the FBI office in Birmingham is conducting the other, according to the press release from U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance. Both operations were begun in the past 60 days. The announcement of the operations came in conjunction with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's announcement today of the U.S. Justice Department's first-ever National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction. That plan calls for specific goals for existing programs to combat online-predators and child pornography, and increase cooperation in investigations among federal, state and local agencies. Among the changes are that the U.S. Marshals Service is launching a nationwide operation to target the top 500 most dangerous sex offenders who are not complying with registration laws. The U.S. Justice Department also has added 38 more assistant U.S. Attorney positions around the country devoted to prosecuting child exploitation cases. The U.S. Attorney Office in Birmingham is not among those expected to get one of those assistants, said Peggy Sanford, a spokeswoman for the Birmingham office.