U S ATTORNEY S OFFICE DISTRICT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE PROJECT SAFE CHILDHOOD STRATEGIC PLAN AUGUST

U. S. ATTORNEY’S OFFICE - DISTRICT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE PROJECT SAFE CHILDHOOD STRATEGIC PLAN, AUGUST 31, 2006 � � � � � � � � INTRODUCTION The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Hampshire enthusiastically embraces the plan of Attorney General Gonzales to establish a Project Safe Childhood program in our district. While New Hampshire remains a relatively safe state with low rates of violent crime, online exploitation and abuse of children is a national problem that knows no boundaries, and we believe that this type of crime is as prevalent in New Hampshire as it is in any other part of the country. In fact, since New Hampshire has one of the highest rates of home computer ownership in the country, we fear that the rates of cyber-crime directed at children may even be higher here than in other states. We are well positioned to establish an effective program, since New Hampshire was one of the founding members of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Also, the training director for the National ICAC, Mr. Brad Russ, is based in Durham, New Hampshire at the University of New Hampshire’s Crimes Against Children Research Center. Mr. Russ is the former Chief of Police in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He has agreed to be a key partner in the formulation and implementation of our PSC Strategy, and we acknowledge and thank him for his support. PRELIMINARY PLANNING After receiving the initial announcement and assignment information about PSC, the U.S. Attorney named Assistant U.S. Attorney Helen White Fitzgibbon as the Coordinator. Assistant U.S. Attorney Fitzgibbon has been the primary prosecutor responsible for child exploitation cases since coming to the office in March 30, 1997. The U.S. Attorney then convened an internal planning meeting on May 31, 2006 with the key U.S. Attorney Office staff members who will plan and implement the strategy, including the First Assistant U.S. Attorney, the Criminal Chief, the PSC Coordinator, the Law Enforcement Coordinator, the Victim Witness Coordinator, and the Media Coordinator. We discussed how we would implement all five components of PSC and gave assignments. We first contacted the ICAC Task Force based at the Portsmouth, New Hampshire Police Department to make them our primary partner. We then met with our federal partners to make sure they were all “on board”. We then met with leaders in state government, including the Attorney General, the State Police Colonel, the Commissioner of the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Director of the Police Standards and Training Academy. Finally, we began an outreach to non-profit agencies that deal with children. We will be contacting the Commissioner of the Department of Education to invite their participation, and we are aware that the state Department of Education already partners with the Netsmartz program statewide. The U.S. Attorney was the keynote speaker at the Annual Meeting of the New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police on June 20, 2006. He focused his remarks on PSC, and he asked for the Chiefs’ cooperation as partners in this program. On July 13, 2006, the PSC Core Group met with Mr. Brad Russ of the National ICAC to confirm his participation in our partnership. On July 19, 2006 the Portsmouth, NH-based Northern New England ICAC was awarded a grant of $500,000 from the Department of Justice to continue its work. On August 3, 2006, we met with our federal partners and confirmed the participation of the following federal law enforcement agencies in this program the FBI, ICE, Secret Service, U.S. Marshal Service, U.S. Probation Office, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, IRS Criminal Investigations Computer Investigations Section, Department of Defense Office of Criminal Investigations, U.S Coast Guard Criminal Investigations, NCIS, U.S. Air Force OIS, and U.S. Army CID. We also discussed the availability of forensic lab resources for the investigation of these cases and discussed training opportunities offered by different agencies for state and local police officers interested in this field. On August 14, 2006, we hosted a meeting with state and local and non­ governmental partners, where the program was received enthusiastically. The following agencies were represented at this meeting: New Hampshire Attorney General, County Attorneys from Carroll, Grafton, Hillsborough, Merrimack, Rockingham, and Sullivan Counties, Portsmouth Police Department, YMCA, YWCA, Postal Inspection Service, State of NH Juvenile Probation Office for the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Juvenile Justice Services, Child Health Services, State of NH Department of Health and Human Services Division of Children, Youth and Families, Boys and Girls Clubs, NH Police Standards and Training, NH Youth Services, NH Child Advocacy Center, NH State Police, and CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates). All of the agencies that were present indicated a willingness to be partners in PSC. As a next step, we will be contacting the ten County Attorneys and asking them to appoint a PSC liaison within their offices to work with our coordinator. As a result of these meetings, we learned that many activities that should be occurring within a healthy PSC program are already occurring here in New Hampshire. Our task is to pull them all together under the umbrella of PSC, under the leadership of our coordinator, and with the assistance of our primary partners at the Northern New England ICAC. Our biggest challenge will be to get information out to the public about the program, without the assistance of any funding or a media partner as we had in 2 Project Safe Neighborhoods. As a further result of the preliminary work we have done in these meetings, we have established the following strategy, arranged in the format of the five components of Project Safe Childhood. 3 STRATEGY Component I: Integrated Partnerships of Federal, State and Local Law Enforcement Investigating and Prosecuting Offenders and Identifying, Rescuing and Assisting Victims New Hampshire was one of the first ten Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Forces funded by the Department of Justice in 1998. The U.S. Attorney’s Office collaborated with the Portsmouth Police Department, the New Hampshire office of the FBI (Boston Division), as well as the U.S. Postal Inspection Service based in Boston and the New Hampshire State Police to form the New Hampshire component of the Northern New England Task Force. For the past eight years the New Hampshire Task Force has served as a national leader through its participation in the formation of a National Board of Directors, the development of national operational standards and investigative protocols. These efforts laid the foundation for the collaborative activities that currently take place across the country with respect to the investigation and prosecution of internet crimes against children. Since its inception, the New Hampshire Task Force has maintained close ties to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and partnered with them in the development of the Cybertipline and the Child Victim Identification Projects (CVIP). The nation’s internet service providers (ISP’s) such as AOL, Comcast, MSN and Yahoo, are statutorily mandated to report incidents of internet based child exploitation to NCMEC’s Cybertipline and that information is then referred to Task Forces that have been granted access to the information via a secure virtual private network (VPN). The New Hampshire Task Force has been actively investigating cases referred by the Cybertipline since the program’s inception and is one of only 75 agencies granted full access to the system. New Hampshire has also been a leader with respect to identifying, rescuing and assisting victims. Once again with the assistance of the NCMEC, we have provided all photographic and video images to the Child Victim Identification Project in an effort to identify and locate victims so that they can be rescued and provided with the assistance. The United States Attorney’s Office has prosecuted many cases which involved coordinated efforts of local and federal law enforcement. Such cases have involved local police departments working in conjunction with the FBI, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Secret Service, and ICE. In implementing the PSC strategy, the partners will continue to evaluate cases on an individual basis in order to evaluate the best possible prosecution strategy. While forensic resources are limited in general, the federal agencies such as FBI, Secret Service, ICE, IRS, and U.S. Postal Service are clearly better equipped than the state to conduct forensic analysis of computers. The New Hampshire Attorney General has established a cyber crime initiative which calls for increased forensic 4 resources for law enforcement. PSC partners will continue to work closely with the Attorney General’s initiative to effectuate the most efficient use of these resources and avoid duplication of effort. With respect to penalties, the federal statues and guidelines call for more serious sentences for most offenders. The minimum mandatory sentences for child pornography trafficking, and manufacturing, and for offenses involving the transportation of minors across state lines, are lengthier sentences than what are available under state law. Further, the increased mandatory sentences for repeat offenders and the possibility of supervised release for life make federal prosecution a better option in many cases. CHILD PORNOGRAPHY - NEW HAMPSHIRE STATUTES SUMMARIZED RSA 649-A:3 Offenses: Encompasses the production, sale, distribution, importation and possession child pornography. (No distinction in penalty) Penalty: Class B felony * Class A felony** IF the defendant has a prior conviction for a similar offense. RSA 649-B:3 Computer Pornography Prohibited: Criminalizes the dissemination of identifying information about a minor for purposes of facilitating sexual conduct with a child or the visual depiction of such conduct. Penalty: Class B Felony RSA 649-B:4 Certain Uses of Computer Prohibited: Criminalizes the use of a computer to solicit, lure or entice a child (or a person believed to be a child) to engage in any sexual act. Penalty: Class B Felony RSA 649-B:5 Owners/Operators of Computer Services Liable Makes it a crime for the owner or operator of computer on line service, bulletin board, etc. to knowingly permit use of the service to commit a violation of the above referenced statutes. Penalty: Class A misdemeanor RSA 639:3 Endangering Welfare of a Child or Incompetent Makes it a crime to solicit a child under the age of 16 to engage in sexual activity for the purposes of creating a visual representation. Penalty: Class B Felony *maximum seven years **maximum fifteen years Integrated Partnership Goals: 1. Reconvene statewide coordination meetings as part of the PSC initiative; 2. Expand the number of local law enforcement agencies participating; 3. Build investigative capacity within the New Hampshire State Police; 5 4. Build forensic capacity in the field and within the New Hampshire State Police Lab; 5. Increase involvement in the Task Force by New Hampshire’s County Attorneys, with a PSC liaison in each County Attorney’s Office 6. Partner with the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Cyber Crime Initiative; 7. Partner with the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Victim Compensation Program; 8. Partner with the New Hampshire Network of Child Advocacy Centers; 9. Partner with the County Attorney’s Victim Advocacy Programs. Component II: Participation in Coordinated National Initiatives The New Hampshire ICAC Task Force has participated in many of the nation’s largest nationally coordinated investigations to include the Landslide Productions or Avalanche Case, Operations Falcon and the current Peer Precision initiative. The Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) of the Department of Justice keeps the United States Attorney’s Office apprised of all approved ongoing national initiatives so that investigative needs may be responded to quickly. Future National Coordination Goals: 1. Establish closer connections between local law enforcement and the FBI’s, Postal Inspection Service’s and ICE’s national investigative activities; 2. Modify statewide protocols with state and local law enforcement to reflect participation in a statewide response to national investigations; 3. Begin the planning process for full participation in the ICAC Data Network as it comes online. Component III: Increased Federal Involvement in Child Exploitation Cases The New Hampshire U.S. Attorney’s Office has been at the forefront of this issue nationally. The office has the experience associated with serving as a founding member of the New Hampshire ICAC initiative in 1998, and it benefits from the experience of our coordinator, who has consistently coordinated and prosecuted these cases for the past eight years. As a result, we already have an informal partnership between federal, state, and local law enforcement which will serve as a base for building even stronger partnerships under PSC. The sentences offenders receive for child exploitation offenses including all child pornography offenses are significantly greater in federal court than in state court. New Hampshire currently has no minimum mandatory sentences and most child pornography offenses are Class B felonies involving little, if any, periods of incarceration. The five 6 year minimum mandatory sentence for distribution of child pornography and the fifteen year minimum for manufacturing child pornography are just two examples of the benefit of bringing these cases in federal court. Fortunately, the United States Attorney’s Office enjoys a good relationship with the County Attorney Offices and local law enforcement. A number of cases have been referred and successfully prosecuted based on the need for greater penalties, particularly in the case of recidivists. In one case involving a vulnerable victim with an uncooperative family, the United States Attorney’s Office was able to secure a conviction on a charge of manufacturing child pornography. The defendant was sentenced to 17 years and the victim never had to testify in the related state molestation case. The relationship which the United States Attorney’s Office has developed with local law enforcement ensures that this type of case analysis will continue in the future under the new umbrella of Project Safe Childhood. Increased Federal Involvement Future Goals: 1. Double the number of cases prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in fiscal year 2007; 2. Develop and distribute protocols for the involvement of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in cases of online child exploitation; 3. Assist in training as outlined in Section IV. Component IV: Training of Federal, State & Local Law Enforcement in New Hampshire New Hampshire is fortunate to have the National ICAC Training & Technical Assistance Program based here in New Hampshire. In 2003, the Department of Justice selected former New Hampshire ICAC Task Force Commander and retired Portsmouth Police Chief Brad Russ to establish a Training and Technical Assistance Program for the ICAC Task Forces nationally. Funded through Fox Valley Technical College, this program is based at the University of New Hampshire’s Crimes Against Children Research Center. Mr. Russ has agreed to assist with the development and implementation of New Hampshire’s Project Safe Childhood strategic plan and continue to provide training for investigators and prosecutors. New Hampshire hosted the ICAC Investigative Techniques (ICAC-IT) training program in 2005 providing investigators from all over the state with the first level of training necessary to become a member of the national Task Force. Federal, state and local investigators based in New Hampshire have also traveled to attend the ICAC-IT program at various locations throughout the country. The ICAC Undercover Techniques (ICAC-UC) training program is scheduled for this October in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Federal, state and local investigators based 7 in New Hampshire who have met the prerequisites for this advanced technical training program are scheduled to attend. These same investigators are part of the New Hampshire Task Force and will become members of the New Hampshire Project Safe Childhood initiative. Prosecutors from New Hampshire have also attended the ICAC Trial Advocacy Program (ICAC-TAP) providing them with information and strategies for successfully handling computer and internet facilitated crimes against children. Prosecutors and investigators have attended the ICAC National Conference conducted annually in August of each year. The conference runs in conjunction with the Dallas Crimes Against Children Conference. With over twenty-five separate workshop tracks daily and an average of 3,000 attendees, this is by far the largest conference in the country if not the world, devoted to the investigation and prosecution of child abuse and exploitation in all of its forms. A New Hampshire investigator and a New Hampshire prosecutor serve as national instructors in the programs outlined above. A complete description of the training programs as well as a calendar for the remainder of 2006 is located on Attachment A. http://www.icactraining.org/training.htm. Local trainings include the New Hampshire Attorney General’s conference on child abuse held in the Autumn of each year. This conference draws law enforcement and child care workers from around the state. Assistant United States Attorney Helen White Fitzgibbon routinely presents a workshop on the federal child exploitation laws at this conference. This year she will be joined in her presentation by a detective from the Manchester Police Department and an FBI Special Agent who, along with Attorney Fitzgibbon, will discuss the development of a child pornography investigation which began at the local level and resulted in the prosecution of three recidivist offenders from three different states. The U.S. Marshal and the Chief of the U.S. Probation Office have joined together to train New Hampshire law enforcement in the investigation of cybercrime. As PSC partners, they will focus future trainings on this subject. Increased Training Goals for New Hampshire Based Federal, State and Local Law Enforcement & Prosecutors: 1. Conduct a statewide training needs assessment to include recommendations for increased training and a budget; 2. Explore increased funding opportunities through federal, state and local grants and well as corporate partnerships to increase the number of training opportunities for investigators and prosecutors; 3. Fully utilize the two slots per training program afforded to the Task Force by the ICAC Training and Technical Assistance Program for all programs conducted nationally; 8 4. Continue to serve as the host for ICAC Training and Technical Assistance Regional Training Programs and request additional technical assistance training as needed; 5. Explore additional training opportunities available through SEARCH, NW3C, and APRI; 6. Conduct local training for law enforcement and prosecution utilizing experienced New Hampshire based personnel; 7. Partner with the New Hampshire Police Standards and Training Council to develop training for Academy recruits and first responding officers; 8. Develop distance learning training programs for small and rural agencies who may encounter cases of computer facilitated crimes against children but lack the resources to attend formal training programs; 9. Continue to coordinate with the New Hampshire Attorney General, the U.S. Marshal, and the U.S. Chief Probation Officer to educate local law enforcement agencies on the federal laws and investigative agencies available to assist in child exploitation crimes. Component V: ncreased Efforts to Raise Community Awareness and Educate the I Public New Hampshire was one of the first states to adopt the NetSmartz program as a statewide educational program for all schools through a partnership between the Attorney General’s Office and the Department of Education. NetSmartz is a program within the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and has been successfully deployed throughout the country through ICAC Task Forces and Boys & Girls Clubs of America. A meeting between the US Attorney’s Office, the Attorney General and the Commissioner of Education will be scheduled to renew and expand this initiative. The ICAC Training and Technical Assistance Program is coordinating the participation of NetSmartz staff in the meeting and has pledged to provide every law enforcement agency and public and private school with copies of the recently developed ICAC/NetSmartz educational CD. his two set CD contains four separate presentations for children of T varied ages as well as parents and for community based presentations. The lesson plans, discussion guides, and all training materials are incorporated into the program. Goals for Increased Efforts to Raise Community Awareness and Educate the Public: 1. Engage New Hampshire’s School Resource Officers (SRO’s) and the New Hampshire Parent Teacher’s Association (PTA) in the statewide public education initiative; 2. Encourage private partners in their communications with the State’s largest media outlets to gain support for the development of statewide public service 9 announcements and print media to educate the public regarding the dangers of the internet and provide resource and referral information; 3. Host county-wide meetings to educate the public and provide a forum for questions regarding how citizen groups and civic leaders can become involved in this issue. 4. Encourage the public to visit the PSC website, to be developed and maintained by the University of New Hampshire’s Crimes against Children Research Center. Next Steps: 1. Establish a New Hampshire PSC Steering Committee to include representation by: • • The New Hampshire ICAC Task Force Police Chief • The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office • The New Hampshire Police Chief’s Association • The New Hampshire Police Sheriff’s Association • The New Hampshire County Attorney’s Association • All Federal Law Enforcement Partners • The New Hampshire State Police • The Director of the ICAC Training and Technical Assistance Program • The Director of New Hampshire Police Standards and Training • The New Hampshire Department of Education • The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Children, Youth and Family and Division of Juvenile Services • The New Hampshire Child Advocacy Center Network • The New Hampshire Child Abuse Task Force • The Boys and Girls Clubs • City of Manchester Office of Youth Services 2. Conduct a meeting with existing law enforcement investigators and prosecutors who have signed an MOU with the New Hampshire ICAC Task Force program; 3. Put together a team to attend the 2006 PSC National Conference in December; 4. Expand the existing New Hampshire Task Force MOU to include the PSC initiative and conduct a signing ceremony with new and existing agencies; 10 5. Assess training needs and develop a statewide training plan; 6. Assess forensic needs and evaluate New Hampshire Forensic plan developed by the New Hampshire State Police and the Attorney General’s CyberCrime initiative; 7. Conduct a major media event to announce the New Hampshire Project Safe Childhood Initiative. 11 Attachment A Training Schedule The ICAC Training and Technical Assistance Program is funded through the Office of Juvenile Justice I. and Delinquency Prevention and provides training in cooperation with Fox Valley Technical College to state and local law enforcement agencies affiliated with OJJDP’s Regional ICAC Task Force. ICAC Training & TA Program Course Offerings View a printable version of the full 2006 ICAC Training Calendar (updated 7/8/06). You must obtain authorization from your regional ICAC Task Force prior to submitting a registration form for these training programs. ICAC Investigative Techniques Training Program (ICAC-IT) The purpose of this 4-1/2 day training program is to provide state and local law enforcement investigators with a basic understanding of investigative techniques in the area of Internet crimes against children. These techniques have been developed by the ICAC Task Force and conform to a set of national standards. Max class size: 24 ICAC Child Sex Offender Accountability Training Program (ICAC-CSO) This newly developed course of instruction is a 4-1/2 day technology training program for law enforcement investigators, probation/parole officers and prosecutors responsible for monitoring or investigating the activities of convicted child sex offenders. Max class size: 24 ICAC Undercover Chat Investigations Training Program (ICAC-UC) An intensive 4-1/2 day training program for experienced ICAC investigators designed to provide them with the latest tools and techniques necessary to combat on-line child exploitation. Max class size: 24 ICAC Trial Advocacy for Prosecutors Training Program (ICAC-TAP) This 4-1/2 day training program is a trial advocacy course involving computer-facilitated crimes against children. It is for experienced prosecutors and is focused on examining the distinct phases of a trial and the relevant issues, challenges, tactics, strategies, and the law that enhance the skills and knowledge of prosecutors in these cases. This course presents significant training on the authentication of technical evidence; how to prepare and organize your case, the selection of jurors, motions practice in computer cases involving crimes against children, the presentation of expert and fact testimony, cross-examination of defendants and their experts as well as how to conduct effective opening statements and closing arguments, among other topics in trial advocacy in such cases. Post-verdict motions and sentencing issues are discussed and analyzed in this course. It is highly recommended that students attend PCO-PRO I before applying to attend this course. This course is heavily influenced by the investigative protocols and standards of the Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Max class size: 24 ICAC Unit Supervisor Training Program (ICAC-US) 12 This course is currently under development. It will be a 4-1/2 day course for ICAC unit commanders and supervisors for ICAC Task Force and affiliated law enforcement agencies. This training program provides students with an overview of managerial, investigative and early intervention strategies to more effectively protect children in their area of responsibility. Experts in the field of Internet exploitation will review emerging technologies and update participants on current investigative and prosecutorial issues associated with supervising an ICAC unit. Max class size: 48 CyberTips Management Training Program This 2-1/2 day class imparts the skills necessary to use the CyberTips software application developed for use with the NCMEC VPN. It has been designed to enhance the use of the NCMEC CyberTipline Program. Max class size: 24 Peer Precision Training Program This 3-1/2 day class imparts the skills necessary to investigate the use of the peer-to-peer file sharing networks using advanced technology developed as a result of previous peer-to-peer investigations. Max class size: 20 2006 Annual ICAC National Conference, Dallas, TX (August 21-24, 2006) Five years ago, the ICAC Task Force Board made the decision to partner with the Annual Crimes Against Children Conference held in Dallas, TX each year based upon its success as one of the largest and most highly regarded national child maltreatment training symposiums. Last year, we had an estimated 380 investigators nominated by ICAC Task Forces for participation in this national conference. W e continue to look forward to a longstanding collaboration with the Crimes Against Children Conference. 2006 Annual ICAC Silicon Valley Conference (May 31 - June 2, 2006) The third annual Silicon Valley ICAC Conference will be held in San Jose, CA May 31 - June 2, 2006. The conference will again offer training in the area of Internet crimes against children, both in lecture and hands-on computer lab instruction. Please register for this conference through the Silicon Valley ICAC. Other Training The ICAC Task Force Training and Technical Assistance Program is pleased to list training here that is being offered by Task Force agencies or other ICAC related programs. Other ICAC-related Training Training Partners Fox Valley Technical College (FVTC) Training Programs FVTC is funded by a cooperative agreement through the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. They provide training to law enforcement, prosecution and social service professionals. 13 National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) Training Programs NCM EC was established in 1984 as a private, nonprofit organization to provide services nationwide for families and professionals in the prevention of abducted, endangered, and sexually exploited children. They offer training programs to law enforcement and social service professionals. SEARCH SEARCH, the National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics, helps state and local justice agencies with their information and identification technology needs through effective planning and implementation assistance, high tech crimes investigation training, and criminal history policy. American Prosecutors Research Institute (APRI) In 1985, the National District Attorneys Association established the National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse as a program of the American Prosecutors Research Institute (APRI). Aimed at responding to an increasing volume of reported child abuse, the National Center serves as a central resource for training, expert legal assistance, court reform and state-of-the-art information on criminal child abuse investigations and prosecutions. 14