DECATUR, GA - Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Vernon Keenan is pleased to announce that the GBI’s High Technology Investigations Unit (HTIU) has been presented with the 2010 Award for Excellence in Criminal Investigations from the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP).

The award, given to a law enforcement agency, law enforcement unit, task force or inter-agency task force in recognition of exceptional innovation and excellence in the area of criminal investigations, was presented today at the Annual IACP Conference in Orlando, Florida.

IACP, the largest and oldest non-profit law enforcement organization in the world, established this award to recognize quality achievements in managing and conducting criminal investigations and to promote the sharing of information on successful programs.
 
“The HTIU’s broad, far-reaching initiative simultaneously addressed several aspects of the child pornography problem, including public education, law enforcement training and investigations,” said Chief Michael Carroll, IACP president. “Their approach involved numerous law enforcement agencies and other resources both nationwide and in Georgia in a coordinated, effective effort.  IACP is proud to recognize the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s HTIU for its outstanding achievements in advancing investigative work in this important area.”

HTIU, which was expanded in 2007 as part of Governor Sonny Perdue’s Child Safety Initiative (CSI), focuses on investigating Internet crimes against children to include possession, distribution or manufacturing of child pornography images on a computer or using the Internet to entice children for sexual or indecent purposes.

Housed within HTIU is the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, a state-wide task force of over 100 local agencies whose goal is to identify those involved in the child porn trade. The ICAC Program, created by the U. S. Department of Justice, was developed in response to the increasing number of children and teenagers using the Internet, the proliferation of child pornography, and the heightened online activity by predators searching for unsupervised contact with underage victims.

In 2008, the Georgia ICAC Task Force made 109 arrests and in 2009 made 164 arrests. Through September of this year, the Task Force has made 145 arrests.

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Contact Information:

John Bankhead - 404-270-8330