Funding enhances efforts to curb crimes against children

The Woodlands Township allocated an additional $445,376 in the 2024 fiscal year budget to fund two more Internet Crimes Against Children/Human Trafficking officers and another Safe Harbor detective. The FY 2025 budget initially proposed another $391,404 in new funding. The adopted budget for the 2025 budget, however, was ultimately approved at $851,701, maintaining 2024 levels of service, township President and CEO Monique Sharp said.

“Children are the heart of our community, and safeguarding their well-being is a responsibility we all share,” said Ann Snyder, chair of The Woodland Township board of directors. “Crimes against children cross all socioeconomic levels and geographic boundaries, underscoring the necessity of comprehensive law enforcement efforts.”

The internet crime and human trafficking division has operated under one banner since 2023, and its three detectives follow up on cyber tips to build cases, execute search warrants, seize electronic devices and carry out operations to find offenders, Acosta said. Offenders can be located anywhere if their victims or evidence of their crimes is uncovered on computers in Precinct 3.

“If we establish the probable cause that a crime has been committed—wherever our offenders are; if they are sharing into The Woodlands or soliciting children in the [Houston] area,” Acosta said. “If we build a case on them, we’re going to find them.”

Internet Crimes Against Children intersects with human trafficking because most trafficking involves use of the internet for solicitation or communication, Acosta said.

While victims of human trafficking can be any age, according to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, close to 40% of trafficking cases involved minors in 2023, the most recent information available.

However, many cases are unreported, said Dawn Candy, the executive director of Hands of Justice, a Montgomery County-based nonprofit that provides support to trafficking survivors.

The local numbers reflect national trends surrounding enforcement for crimes against children. A 2023 report to Congress by the U.S. Department of Justice noted that from 2019-21, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s CyberTipline saw the number of tips for child sex trafficking increase dramatically.

While enforcement efforts are increasing, so are the needs of children and adult survivors of childhood abuse and exploitation.

In August, Montgomery County nonprofit Children’s Safe Harbor, which partners with law enforcement to provide support for child survivors, broke ground on a new $10 million facility in Conroe. The facility will house law enforcement and provide space for children taking part in investigations, said Victoria Constance, executive director of Children’s Safe Harbor.

Socioeconomic background, a history of abuse and other issues can make a child vulnerable to trafficking, according to several area nonprofits which work with survivors.

“Poverty, drug addiction, ... runaways, kids who are running away from home [and] kids who are in the foster system are highly vulnerable because they’re dealing with a lot of identity issues,” said Bobbie Mark, executive director for Redeemed Ministries, which offers services to survivors of sex trafficking and runs a safe house in the North Houston area.

Candy said trauma experienced during childhood has repercussions into adulthood.

“One of the myths ... is that once [survivors] are rescued, that life goes back to normal ... and unfortunately that is not true,” she said.

Local resources for trafficking survivors:

Children’s Safe Harbor

Health and advocacy

www.childrenssafeharbor.org

Child Advocates of Montgomery County

Advocates for abused children

www.casaspeaks4kids.com

Hands of Justice

Resources for human trafficking survivors

www.handsofjustice.org

Redeemed Ministries

Care for human trafficking survivors

www.redeemedtx.org

Shield Bearer

Counseling and trauma recovery

www.shieldbearer.org

Some context

The Precinct 3 Constable’s Office also collaborates with other law enforcement agencies, including local school districts.

Conroe ISD Police Chief Matt Blakelock said the district’s police department has jurisdiction over the 348 square miles of CISD, but its focus is on crimes that occur on campus.

The resources available to the Precinct 3 Constable’s Office allow it to partner with agencies like the CISD Police Department, Blakelock said.

“We’ve been involved in their investigations [because] we have a little more resources,” Acosta said. “We have a forensic examiner trained to download [materials from] cell phones and computers to find evidence.”

The CISD Police Department provides outreach courses for students and adults on a variety of topics relating to child exploitation such as personal safety, internet safety and victim awareness, which includes:

• Tips to avoid traffickers
• What to do if you witness a crime
• Information about self-defense weaponry
• The department also operates:
• A 24/7 phone line, 1-888-KID-CHAT, for anonymous tips
• Anonymous Alerts, a texting app
• Safe School Crime Stoppers, a program that works with law enforcement

What they're saying

“Without a doubt, the addition of the extra two detectives has really increased our workload and productivity; this is a very proactive unit, Acosta said.

“We’ve actually had residents whose parents were their traffickers when they were as young as 4 years old, trading them to pay the rent on the apartment," Mark said.

“Since 2020, unfortunately, COVID[-19] did part of the job for the predator by isolating everyone," Candy said.

Going forward

A new frontier in the fight against child exploitation is computer-generated or AI material, which complicates matters for a digital forensics officer trying to prove that an incident took place, officials said.

Seufert said he has asked the office of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and the Senate Criminal Justice Committee to look into legislation against “deep fake” sexual abuse material in the next legislative session.

“With the current laws, it’s a huge burden on us to prove in every case, when these images get to be indistinguishable ... that it’s an actual child,” Seufert said.

At the federal level, on Sept. 18, Sen. John Cornyn was among the eight U.S. legislators to introduce a measure called the Protect our Children Act that they said would reauthorize the national Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program to support programs across the country.

Seufert said local law enforcement in Montgomery County is prioritizing the prosecution of offenders who target children.

“We hope the message has got out that if you’re going to try to exploit children, Montgomery County is not the place to do it,” Seufert said.