Encinitas Group Awarded $500K Department of Justice Grant

ENCINITAS, CA — An Encinitas-based organization, The Innocent Justice Foundation — or TIJF — was awarded a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to implement a wellness program for law enforcement task force members who are repeatedly exposed to child sexual abuse images, the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Diego announced Monday in a news release.

TIJF will receive the funding under The Protect (Providing Resources, Officers, and Technology to Eradicate Cyber Threats to Our Children) Act of 2008, which ensures that resources are allocated to develop and deliver training to assist law enforcement, policy agency command staff, prosecutors and mental health professionals in identifying and managing vicarious trauma due to long-term and repeated exposure to child exploitation images as part of their work responsibilities.

“Child pornography prosecutions exact a huge toll on the law enforcement and court staff involved in these cases,” said U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy. “Studies have confirmed that repeated viewing of these horrific images is incredibly stressful. Mental health and resilience programs are needed to ensure that we are adequately addressing the needs of the many dedicated people who work in the child protection arena.”

With the grant funding, TIJF will implement officer wellness training for the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program. The training will help task force members and police agency command staff understand, manage and address the impact of repeated exposure to child sexual abuse images and materials. The focus will be on promoting officer mental health and well-being.

According to a news release, TIJF will provide individual, case study and managerial trainings for ICAC task force members and other exposed individuals through 12 regional trainings and two national conference presentations; provide four regional trainings for judges and judicial staff regarding the impact of exposure to CSAI; conduct specialized mental health professional outreach, education and mentoring through presenting at three national mental health conferences; and implement a family/social support curriculum for task forces. In addition, TIJF will develop and maintain online resources and webinars for task force members.

The TIJF funding was among three Department of Justice grants totaling nearly $2 million awarded to San Diego County agencies for community policing and justice programs. The city of Escondido was awarded $248,940 for the purchase of body-worn cameras for the Escondido Police Department. Rady Children's Hospital was awarded $1.25 million to manage Children’s Advocacy Centers and Multidisciplinary Child Abuse Teams throughout the Western region.

Public domain image via U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement