Dear Friend,
When I was running for Attorney General, I pledged to create a Children’s Justice Center in the Montana Department of Justice. I wanted to make sure that we were doing everything we could to protect kids and prosecute sex predators.
As the father of three young children, I know there is nothing more important than keeping our kids safe.
Today in Billings, I was honored to unveil the Montana’s Children’s Justice Center and highlight the incredible work that has been done in the past three years to prevent crimes against kids, better treat child victims and prosecute those who commit these horrible acts. Read more about today’s event and see pictures at the Billings Gazette.
What we have built far surpasses my initial vision and should serve as a national model. It wouldn’t be possible without the dedication and hard work of my colleagues and hundreds of other law enforcement professionals, child advocates and parents from around the state.
A report issued today by the Attorney General’s Office highlights the important work being done by the newly-formed Children’s Justice Center – work that is making our communities safer and keep Montana a great place to raise a family. The report highlights new initiatives and improvements to existing programs, including:
Sexual Predator Enforcement Unit, which has partnered with the Montana Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force to assist in educating, investigating, and prosecuting computer-facilitated child exploitation cases.
Sexual or Violent Offender Registry and Compliance Unit, which we have expanded to include a mapping feature. This allows users to enter a specific street address and city, and the search then uses Google Maps to generate a map showing the location of offenders within a certain radius of that address. This unit has also added two investigators and an analyst who assist local law enforcement with the verification of addresses for both sexual and violent offenders.
Montana Child Sexual Abuse Response Team, which is a statewide program that provides training, equipment and support to multi-disciplinary teams to respond to crimes against children. These local teams – which include medical, child protection and mental health professionals, prosecutors and cops – use a new model that uses improves evidence collection and provides victim support to traumatized children and their non-offending caregivers.
Child Protection Attorneys, who handle child abuse and neglect cases throughout Montana. These attorneys specialize in civil cases on behalf of children whose safety requires that the DPHHS Child and Family Services Division takes temporary legal custody.
Child Abduction Response Team, which responds to a missing or abducted child by using a multi-disciplinary approach that includes law enforcement, family services, victims’ advocates, emergency management personnel, analysts, and search and rescue professionals.
Drug Endangered Children, a partnership that has coordinated statewide resources for professionals who respond to children affected by drug abuse. As with other children victimized by crime, drug endangered children are best served by a team approach. Statewide data shows that drug abuse is a factor for 60 percent of the children removed from their homes and placed in out-of-home care.
When parents worry about how best to keep their kids safe, they don’t do it as Republicans or Democrats. When law enforcement investigates, arrests, prosecutes and convicts sex predators, they don’t care if the criminal is a liberal or a conservative.
In political campaigns, where some candidates will say and do anything to get elected, it’s easy to lose focus on the truly important things. That wasn’t the case today in Billings.
Thanks,
Steve
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