DOWNTOWN TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — New funds for Leon County Sheriff's Office and Tallahassee Police Department from the Big Bend Protecting Children's Innocence Task Force work to strengthen the response to crimes against children.
- Money will help increase staffing and purchase new resources.
- Funds from the Task Force were recently approved by the City and County to fund LCSO and TPD efforts in this initiative.
- Watch the video below to see why the task force is so important.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
The City and County approving money from the Big Bend Protecting Children's Innocence Task Force for LCSO and TPD to continue carrying out their efforts in this initiative. I'm Maya Sargent in Downtown Tallahassee, breaking down how the Task Force hopes to develop.
Money from the Big Bend Protecting Children’s Innocence Task Force to go toward supporting Tallahassee Police Department and Leon County Sheriff’s Office work within this initiative.
"Our cases rarely stay within one jurisdiction, and so having local state and federal partners task force together makes our investigations that much more fluid," said Sgt. Rachel Buell, with the Human Exploitation and Trafficking Unit at the Leon County Sheriff's Office.
The task force was established late last year and combines LCSO, TPD, Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, and Homeland Security efforts to tackle child exploitation and trafficking.
LCSO and TPD says crimes against children are increasing, but that arrests are also increasing as well that’s because of efforts like this task force.
Per our reporting last year, when the task force was rolled out, new funding for this unit is critical, as they can purchase new equipment to track vehicles and download information from locked phones, to speed up investigations.
Recently, LCSO has recieved $210,000 from the task force to conduct their operations, and TPD has been given just over half a million dollars to support funding an investigator position on this task force for the next 3 years.
TPD’s Major Vincent Boccio says this funding is critical as it requires taking a deputy away from their primary job to now focus solely on these crimes against children.
"That’s where that money goes, to help with that detective go to that task force and become part of that solution and combat those sex crimes," said Boccio.
Buell says they have several goals for the task force this year, including increasing proactive investigations and intelligence-led operations.
"If our arrests are going up, that means we’re doing our job, and so, you know, we want to see our arrests go up. We want to see strong prosecutions and significant consequences for people who think it’s okay to exploit the most vulnerable," said Buell.
LCSO says they're looking to bring in more representation from more rural counties to the Task Force to bolster their approach to tackling these crimes.
In Downtown Tallahassee, Maya Sargent, ABC 27.
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