May | June 2017

Message From the Acting Administrator: Protecting Children Is Everyone’s Responsibility

Hello. I’m Eileen Garry, Acting Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

At OJJDP, we are committed to safeguarding children from violence and victimization. Thousands of children are reported missing each year—many are at risk of sexual exploitation, abuse, and trafficking. One of our top priorities is to reunite missing and abducted children with their families and provide our partners with the training, tools, and resources they need to bring our missing children home.

Recently, we highlighted some of these successful recoveries as we honored law enforcement officers and private citizens who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to find and rescue missing and exploited children during our National Missing Children’s Day ceremony held on May 24.

I joined Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein in honoring their heroic efforts and presented the following awards. The Attorney General’s Special Commendation was presented to two Internet Crimes Against Children task forces for jointly investigating individuals suspected of possessing and distributing child pornography. A Department of Homeland Security special agent received the Missing Children’s Law Enforcement Award for investigating the worldwide use of an online chat service to sexually exploit minors. A forensic detective received the Missing Children’s Child Protection Award for assisting in the investigation of child pornography cases which resulted in the recovery of more than 1 million child pornography images and videos. And a Missouri bus driver who acted swiftly to recover a missing 13-year-old girl accepted the Missing Children’s Citizen Award.

During the ceremony, we also heard inspiring words from abduction survivor Georgina DeJesus, and I had the pleasure of announcing the national poster contest winner, Florida fifth grader Audrey Link. As you can see, the ceremony highlighted not only the extraordinary efforts of law enforcement personnel but the efforts of ordinary citizens. To quote Mr. Rosenstein, the award recipients’ actions “epitomize the values of courage, selflessness, and determination . . . I am proud to stand with them.”

OJJDP also stands proudly alongside law enforcement officers who serve and protect us. To better equip them to identify victimized children and assist in the children’s recovery from trauma, we recently released the Enhancing Police Responses to Children Exposed to Violence toolkit. This OJJDP-funded toolkit was developed by the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the Yale Child Study Center. It contains protocols, checklists, and other research-vetted and field-tested resources to help front line officers and law enforcement leaders respond to children exposed to violence.

OJJDP also kicked off our annual National Law Enforcement Training on Child Exploitation on June 6 in Atlanta, GA. The training event was attended by 1,500 law enforcement investigators and prosecutors who participated in more than 20 sessions focused on investigating and prosecuting technology-facilitated crimes against children.

Attorney General Jefferson Sessions told participants, “You see the darkest side of humanity almost every day—but that doesn’t stop you. Each of you is a bright light of hope and justice. Your light shines in the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it.”

Law enforcement officers, in large part, are on the front lines of the fight to protect children from harm, but we all have a part to play. Throughout the month of May, OJJDP staff participated in the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s (NCMEC’s) second annual Rock One Sock Campaign. NCMEC runs the campaign each May to increase the public’s awareness of the issue of missing children.

Read more about how OJJDP is promoting child safety and protection in the current issue of OJJDP News @ a Glance. To learn more about OJJDP, visit our website at ojjdp.gov.

Thank you.