This report presents an assessment of the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force Program by the National Evaluation of ICAC Task Force Training through the ICAC Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) Program.
The Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force Program was developed in 1988 to help state and local law enforcement agencies effectively respond to technology-related crimes against children. To support ICAC task force members and their affiliate agencies in the investigation of ICAC cases, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) manages the ICAC Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) Program. The National Evaluation of ICAC Task Force Training was funded to assess the quality, implementation fidelity, and outcomes associated with OJJDP-funded ICAC training. Overall, ICAC investigative training was rated highly by both trainees and their ICAC commanders in terms of the quality of training delivery, expertise of instructors, knowledge gains, and applicability to on-the-job ICAC investigations. Significant activities and accomplishments over the study period include: collaboration with NIJ and OJJDP liaisons throughout the planning and evaluation phases to ensure study alignment with federal partner priorities and attention to the ICAC context; completion of an in-depth analysis of 17 focus courses; coordination of effective data sharing processes with three TTA providers to streamline data submission processes while ensuring the collection of necessary data, which led to the collection of data for nearly 9,000 trainees; collection of original data from a substantial sample of 768 ICAC law enforcement commanders and officers to inform understanding of their perspectives on ICAC training; and successful pivoting of focus course observations to account for the COVID-19 pandemic when trainings initially paused and then moved to an online environment. The cost study suggests a total cost of about $10.3 million to provide ICAC training over the three-year evaluation period, and that annual average costs ranged from $2.9 million to $4.3 million over this period.