NLC Protects Seminar A Success in May
Seventy-five participants came from all over Tennessee and, even, North Carolina. About eighteen of thosecame from right here in Tennessee’s Fourth Judicial District, including the district attorney’s office, law enforcement, juvenile court, child protective services and the Safe Harbor Child Advocacy Center, for a unique training opportunity May 22-24 by the National Law Center for Children & Families. Participants joined together for three days at the Music Road Hotel & Convention Center to delve into one of the most serious issues, if not the most serious issue, facing society today – the sexual exploitation of children.
Courses topics included: Sex Offender Management at the Local Level, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Resources, Interview Strategies in Child Exploitation Investigations, Child Pornography Prosecution, Understanding and Recognizing the Signs of Trafficking in Persons, Obscenity Investigation and Prosecutions, Coping Techniques for Professionals in Exploitation Cases, Referral of Cases for Federal Prosecution, The Adam Walsh Child Protection Act of 2006, Dangers of Online Social Networking, On-Scene Forensics and Technology Used by Sex Offenders, Role of Child Advocacy Centers in Sexual Exploitation Cases, and Computer Facilitated Crimes Against Children.
Instructors included nationally renowned experts in their fields, including a retired FBI agent, a practicing Assistant U.S. Attorneys, a Special Deputy U.S. Marshal, former assistant general counsel from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and a host of others pioneering work in the field of sexual exploitation.
This intensive three-day seminar was hosted by the Safe Harbor Child Advocacy Center, a non-profit organization serving Tennessee’s Fourth Judicial District, including Jefferson, Grainger, Cocke and Sevier counties. Barry Fain, Safe Harbor’s board president, made the initial contact with the National Law Center to bring the seminar to the area. “One of our goals with Safe Harbor is to bring high quality training opportunities, like this seminar on child sexual exploitation, to our area for investigators and prosecutors to use in the field to combat severe child abuse and exploitation”, says Fain. “The more we can make available to them, the better they will be prepared to confront an ever changing threat. A significant focus of this seminar dealt with the constantly evolving threat of online enticement of children.”
Law enforcement and prosecutors are also able to use the training received at this seminar to count toward their annual requirements for POST and MCLE, respectively.
Post-seminar remarks by investigators include comments like “The training was very informative and covered many aspects that had not been covered at any of the trainings that I had gone to previously”, while another stated, “These sessions have been wonderful. They have been extremely informative and we’ve heard from some really great speakers with real experience about what they’re talking about. We’re definitely better prepared to deal with these kinds of situations now.”
To learn more about Safe Harbor and their work to help combat child sexual abuse and other forms of severe abuse and neglect, visit their website at www.SafeHarborCAC.com or call their offices toll-free at (866) 774-1778. To learn more about the National Law Center for Children & Families, visit their website at www.NationalLawCenter.org or call (703) 548-5522.
