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GOVERNOR MAPP JOINS EFFORTS WITH HOMELAND SECURITY FOR 
“VI CRIMES AGAINST CHILDREN TASK FORCE” 
(July 10, 2015 St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands)  Governor Kenneth E Mapp met with 
Homeland Security officials on Thursday.  Together, the Governor and the team 
from ICE cited the need for a territory-wide approach to fighting the escalation of 
child exploitation and other predatory crimes against children, U.S. Immigration 
and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in St. 
Thomas and St. Croix has partnered with members of local, state and federal law 
enforcement, and community leaders, to form the U.S. Virgin Islands Crimes 
Against Children Task Force (VICACTF). 
 
Through the VICACTF, federal and local law enforcement agencies will pool their 
resources to jointly investigate all crimes committed against children in the USVI. 
Task Force members will be encouraged to share evidence, ideas and investigative 
and forensic tools to ensure the most successful prosecutions possible. As such, the 
VICACTF will allow law enforcement to speak with a unified voice to defend the 
children of the U.S. Virgin Islands. The VICACTF is composed of the following 
agencies: ICE-HSI (lead agency), U.S. Attorney’s Office, U.S. Marshals Service, the 
Virgin Islands Police Department, the Virgin Islands Department of Justice-Office of 
the Attorney General, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Virgin Islands 
Department of Human Services and the Family Resource Center. 
 
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“I am extremely encouraged by the level of cooperation that we are receiving from 
federal law enforcement.  Protection of our Virgin Islands’ children and the further 
enabling of our police department’s ability to do so, is of utmost importance to the 
Lt. Governor and myself.”  Said Mapp in response to the establishing of the New 
Task force.