INTERNET PREDATORS IN WISCONSIN
Thursday, November 06, 2008
22,304 Unique IP Addresses Identified In Wisconsin As Downloading Child Pornography
MADISON - This year marks the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Wisconsin Department of Justice Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. "While great success has been achieved in this area of law enforcement, there is much work that still needs to be done," said Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen.
The following map represents all IP addresses seen in Wisconsin from January 1, 2008 to October 19, 2008 that were identified as download candidates for images known, or suspected to be, that of child pornography. Each red square on the map represents at least one IP address seen at least one time. A single dot, however, can represent multiple IP addresses due to overlap.
http://www.doj.state.wi.us/news/files/102108_map.jpg
During this time frame there were 22,304 unique IP addresses that were identified as attempting to download child pornography. This is believed to be a conservative estimate that only shows the minimum size of the problem. For example, the map does not include IP addresses that were identified but could not be mapped. It is possible that some IP addresses may come back to the same offender.
"In the past decade, Wisconsin's ICAC Task Force and Affiliate Agencies have arrested 540 suspects, executed 647 search warrants, and rescued countless numbers of children throughout the state," said Van Hollen.
Van Hollen has placed a priority on law enforcement's proactive response to the growing problem of internet crimes against children. To that end, Van Hollen has directed a 67% increase in the number of special agents assigned to the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force within the Division of Criminal Investigation. Van Hollen's 2009-11 budget request for the Department of Justice includes a request for additional special agents and criminal analysts to protect our children from sex predators who utilize the Internet to prey on children.
In addition to expanding investigative capacity internally, Van Hollen and the Department of Justice have continued to add additional local affiliates to the Wisconsin ICAC Task Force. The number of local law enforcement partners to the Department of Justice's ICAC Task Force has more than doubled to 62 in the past year. You can access a list of affiliates at http://www.doj.state.wi.us/dci/icac/afflist.asp.
