2306: ICAC Overview/Problem

Wednesday, June 23, 2004
1:00pm – 4:30pm
Presenter: Lieutenant Bill Walsh

PRESENTATION DESCRIPTION

This module of instruction will provide students with information regarding the problem of computer crimes against children. The presentation will discuss the varied risks that the Internet poses to children, concentrating on the problem of sexual exploitation. Participants will learn why and how offenders utilize the Internet to victimize children. Current research findings will be discussed related to child victims and Internet offenders and their relevance to law enforcement investigations. Child pornography and child erotica will be discussed along with their relevance to the offender’s typology and their value in the investigation. Actual cases will be used to illustrate the most commonly encountered Internet related crimes that are committed against children. Lastly, the challenges that law enforcement faces in responding to these types of crimes will be discussed.

PRESENTER BIO

Lt. Walsh is a 24-year veteran of the Dallas Police Department, assigned to the Youth and Family Support Division. He is the commander of the Investigations Unit, which includes the following units: The Child Abuse Squad, The Child Exploitation Squad, and The Family Violence Squad. Lt. Walsh is a member of the Dallas Police Department-FBI Crimes Against Children Task Force and has been appointed as both a Special Deputy U.S. Marshal and a Special Investigator of the Texas Attorney General’s Internet Bureau. Currently he is a faculty member for the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP).

Lt. Walsh has received many awards for his professional achievement, including being selected as the 1990 Dallas Police Officer of the Year and the 1998 Dallas Police Supervisor of the Year. He is the only Dallas police officer that has ever earned both awards. He has also received the State of Texas Special Achievement Award for Public Service and the 1999 Crime Victims Service Award from the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) in the U.S. Department of Justice.

• 1988 – Lt. Walsh started the Child Exploitation Squad with assistance of a state grant from the Criminal Justice Division of the Texas Governor’s Office.

• 1989 – He started the annual Crimes against Children Conference that is held annually in Dallas. The major focus of this seminar is the investigation and prosecution of crimes involving children as victims. It has the largest law enforcement attendance of any child maltreatment conference in the country. He also co-founded the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center and currently serves as a board member.

• 1992 – He started the Dallas County Child Death Review Team. This was the first child death review team in the State of Texas.

• 1997 – He co-authored a grant that funded the Sex Offender Apprehension Program (SOAP), which is a special team of detectives responsible for pro-active investigation of known and suspected sex offenders and insuring their compliance with the Texas Sex Offender Registration Law.

• 1998 – He co-authored a grant that was funded by the U.S. Department of Justice in which the Dallas Police Department was selected as one of the first Internet Crime against Children Task Forces (ICAC) in the nation.

• 2001 – The Dallas Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force that he supervises was responsible for Operation Avalanche, the largest undercover investigation of Internet-related child pornography trafficking and sexual exploitation of children in the country’s history.

Lt. Walsh has served on the national board of both the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC) and the National Children’s Alliance. He has also served as the Associate Editor for Investigation for the APSAC Advisor and the law enforcement section editor for APSAC’s Child Maltreatment journal. Lt. Walsh has published articles and lectured widely on the issues of child abuse and family violence both nationally and internationally. Included among the many agencies for which he has conducted training are: The National Center for the Prosecution of Child Abuse, The National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Navy’s Family Advocacy Program, The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), North Carolina Bureau of Investigation, Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Missouri State Technical Assistance Team (STAT), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Norwegian National Bureau of Crime Investigation (NBCI), Hong Kong Police, and Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

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