RD92 - Bedford County Sheriff’s Office Internet Crimes Against Children Annual Progress Report - July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011


Executive Summary:
The Bedford County Sheriff’s Office is responsible for the administration of Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) program administrated by the Department of Criminal Justice Standards and funded legislatively by the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Southern Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (SOVA ICAC), under the code name, Operation Blue Ridge Thunder is a regional task force staffed originally by funding from The Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Programs. The task force is a multi-agency collaboration established by the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office to combat crimes against children. Investigators and supervisory personnel assigned to the SOVA ICAC task force by BCSO work only ICAC related cases with ICAC funding. Effective July 1, 2010, all of the filled positions within the SOVA-ICAC were funded by the State ICAC funds. Three positions that were not filled under the Federal program were filled once State funding was obtained. The allocated positions within the SOVA ICAC include a working Lieutenant, two working Sergeant, four full-time Investigators, two part-time Investigators, one full time Administrative Analyst, one full time Cybertip Manager, and two full-time Forensic Examiners. As of this report all of the positions were filled with the exception of one (1) full time Investigator and (1) part time Investigator. We will have one (1) Sergeants position coming open that will need to be filled. The term “working” indicates that these positions are not only supervisory positions but they also carry active investigations and handle complaints. Currently the workload is broken up in that the Lieutenant handles a limited number of active investigations, a limited number of forensic exams and the majority of the day-to-day supervision. Each Sergeant has a team of two Investigators, one part-time Investigator and one Forensic Examiner. Each of the Sergeants of the unit handles a limited number of proactive investigations, reviews all of the Cyber tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), and assists with the day-to-day supervision of their team. The investigators work all online enticements both proactive and reactive. The investigators also handle all peer-to-peer investigations and proactive and reactive social networking investigations, gaming investigations and cybertips. All personnel take daily complaints from citizens as they are reported (reactive). Investigators assigned to the SOVA-ICAC main office in Bedford County assist all affiliate agencies and often travel to those agencies to assist with cases. The Southern Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force is responsible for the ICAC investigations in the Commonwealth of Virginia with the exception of the geographic area assigned to the Virginia State police in Northern Virginia. The following pages summarize the activities of the SOVA ICAC and the agencies affiliated with the SOVA ICAC. The Memorandum of Understanding program with affiliate agencies continues to show an increase in the number of active members.