According to a recent audit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ( FBI ) by the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General, there are” significant issues” with the FBI’s handling of child sex abuse cases, and only 17 % of those cases involving mandatory reporting requirements are “fully documented.”
The Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General” major problems with the FBI’s response to serious claims involving suspected child misuse,” according to the inspection. The audit noted that of the 327 child sex abuse cases reviewed by the Office of the Inspector General, 42 of the circumstances were flagged for “immediate interest” by law enforcement authorities. The FBI has struggled to comply with the legal requirements for child sex abuse situations, including stringent monitoring needs, according to the inspection.
In about half of the child sex abuse cases that the Office of the Inspector General reviewed, the FBI allegedly failed to remind social service organizations. Moreover, only 43 % of the accounts that were made to social support companies were completed in the necessary 24-hour time frame. Only 17 of the child sex abuse circumstances may be deemed “fully documented” for reporting, according to the Office of the Inspector General.
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The audit also identified instances where “FBI employees failed to adhere to applicable laws and regulations for ( a ) required reporting of suspected child abuse, ( b ) victim services, ( c ) moving incidents between field offices, and ( d ) responding to allegations of active and ongoing child sexual abuse within 24 hours.”
One example from the assessment included the statement that the FBI had n’t “take appropriate analytical action” for more than a year in response to an accusation of “hands-on misuse by a registered sex offender.” The suspect reportedly took at least one another child for about 15 times as a result of the delay.
In light of the most recent inspection, the Inspector General’s Office made 11 recommendations to the FBI, including monitoring the company’s compliance with required reporting of suspected child abuse cases, implementing area company policies to document and respond to allegations of sexual victimization or abuse, and establishing” enough controls” to stop employees from approving documents that “require approval/authority within analytical case files.”
Following the recent FBI assessment, the organization stated in a statement to Axios that the FBI’s efforts to combat offences against children are among the most crucial and difficult tasks we undertake.
The FBI continued,” We are committed to maintaining the public’s faith by implementing the necessary changes to ensure that the significant changes we made to our Aggressive Crimes Against Children programme in 2018 and 2019 have the expected result of promoting the highest level of compliance and success.”
