The National Association for Justice Information Systems (NAJIS) Annual Conference will be held from September 30 to October 3, 2019, in Baltimore, Maryland.  This conference aims to create a learning environment where attendees can network and share emerging trends and best practices to help improve the efficiency of government through information sharing.

The agenda will include mobile citizen engagement; emerging technologies; combatting the opioid epidemic through information sharing; body-worn cameras and digital evidence; justice information sharing (JIS) assessment; artificial intelligence and cybersecurity; using DNA to solve crimes; JIS integration—models that work; expungements and sealing criminal records; juvenile justice information sharing; sharing data to combat sex trafficking; intersection of technology and access to justice in rural communities; criminal citations and release; rebooting justice; 9-1-1 consolidation to regional dispatch centers; and the criminal justice funding landscape.

The sexual abuse of children is repugnant, and it victimizes the most innocent and vulnerable of all.

 ~Attorney General William P. Barr

The U.S. Department of Justice recently announced the arrest of almost 1,700 suspected online child sex offenders during a two-month, nationwide operation conducted by Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task forces. The task forces identified 308 offenders who either produced child pornography or committed child sexual abuse, as well as 357 children who suffered recent, ongoing, or historical sexual abuse or were exploited in the production of child pornography.

During the months of April and May 2019, 61 ICAC task forces, located in all 50 states and composed of more than 4,500 federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies, led the coordinated operation known as “Broken Heart.”  During the operation, the task forces investigated more than 18,500 complaints of technology-facilitated crimes targeting children and delivered more than 2,150 presentations on internet safety to more than 201,000 youth and adults.

For more information, visit the ICAC Task Force webpage. For state-level Operation Broken Heart results, please contact the appropriate state ICAC task force commander. Contact information for task force commanders is available online.

The Center on Policing at Rutgers University, in collaboration with the IJIS Institute and the National Police Foundation, will jointly host an executive leadership seminar on September 4–5, 2019, in Sayreville, New Jersey, at the Middlesex Fire Academy. The seminar is the first of a three-course offering in the Advancing Public Safety Technology Professional Development Program.

The two-day seminar, “Promises and Perils of Law Enforcement Information Technology,” is designed for executives in state, local, and federal law enforcement agencies and organizations.  The seminar will offer case studies on current and emerging information technologies, focusing on the benefits these technologies can bring to improving law enforcement operations, as well as the potential challenges that an agency may face with adoption of advanced technologies. Lessons learned and proven strategies will be discussed for mitigating risks associated with technology adoption. 

Sponsored by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), U.S. Department of Justice, this no-cost webinar, “Inside the Life, A Survivor’s Story,” will provide a firsthand account from Allison, a survivor of gang sex trafficking, and the everyday life sacrifices made to make the situation livable.  Attendees will gain insight into Allison’s story of being sexually abused at a very young age, kidnapped by gang members, and forced into trafficking; and how her rescuer was, in fact, the real trafficker.

Date:  July 17, 2019

Time: 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m., ET

The mission of the Joint Counterterrorism Assessment Team (JCAT) is to improve information sharing and enhance public safety.  In coordination with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the JCAT collaborates with other members of the Intelligence Community to research, produce, and disseminate counterterrorism intelligence products for federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial government agencies and the private sector and advocates for the counterterrorism intelligence requirements and needs of these partners throughout the Intelligence Community.

The JCAT maintains a comprehensive First Responder Toolbox resource.