“I have dealt with child abuse for 36 years, both as a judge and as a prosecutor. Children harmed through abuse and neglect have always been the cases that keep me awake at night. We can, and must, make an impact on this pervasive and continuing issue. Each new case tells us there is still more work to be done.”

Prosecuting Attorney Bruce Embrey
Miami County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office
Peru, Indiana

“We worked a child homicide caused by horrendous abuse. During the course of the investigation, it was revealed the child had been abused in the past, but not reported. This was a needless death for a young 2 year old child.”

Sheriff Townsend Walton
Harvey County
Newton, Kansas

“In my profession, I have seen several cases where a poor innocent child has been abused. One particular case was when a small infant child was murdered by her mother. To see that small lifeless body, who had no chance of defending herself brought a tear to my eye. The Walker Police Department along with the District Attorney’s Office, and Louisiana Office of Family Services, work hard for several months to put a case before the grand jury, where we received a bill for 2nd degree murder in which she was later convicted. I along with the others listed above, we will not take child abuse lightly, and our record proves that.

Over my 35 years as a police officer, no crime impacted me more than child abuse/neglect. We must always protect and support those who cannot protect themselves. Children are the future, and we must stop the cycle of abuse.”

Chief of Police Hunter Grimes
Walker City Police Department
Walker, Louisiana

“Our District Attorney’s office deals with the tragedy of child abuse and neglect every day. Our children need safe and secure homes. We all need to work together to give children a safe and nurturing environment to thrive.”

District Attorney David Sullivan
District Attorney, Northwestern District
Northampton, Massachusetts

“Child abuse is alive and well in every community across our nation. It is imperative that we all recognize the need to work together to create better communities. Our children are the future, and are also the defenseless. We need to safeguard our future by ensuring that our children have the safe upbringing that they deserve.”

Sheriff James Stuart

Anoka County Sheriff’s Office
Andover, Minnesota

“My support is dedicated to the memory of Destiny Jackson, age 15 months, of St. Paul, MN, killed February 13, 2007, Destiny died from blunt force trauma at the hands of her father. I first met Destiny while investigating allegations of physical abuse perpetrated on her in late 2006. Despite our best investigative efforts Destiny was returned to her parents and murdered only months later. Destiny was beautiful little girl who was senselessly murdered. While her father was deemed responsible for her death andsentenced to prison, Destiny’s death must serve as a reminder of the critical importance of prevention.”

Chief of Police Paul Schnell
Hastings Police Department
Hastings, Minnesota

“Even in a small town, I observe the effects of child abuse every day. We deal with family services at least 3 times a week with different cases. I will do whatever needs to be done to help this cause.”

Chief of Police Robert Bodley
Elsberry Police Department
Elsberry, Missouri

“It is incumbent upon all police officers to do everything within our power to identify and stop child abuse and neglect. As a member of the Board of Directors of our local Salvation Army chapter, I see the effect of neglect and abuse on so many of our local children. Many of these children visit the Salvation Army for their only meals of the day and because it is their only refuge for safety and security from the ravages of their family life and the predation of life on the streets. Many of their parents are uninvolved in the child’s care and upbringing due to ignorance, poverty or involvement in the illegal drug trade. Being a police officer for 32 years, I also have observed the effects, both short term and long term, of abuse and neglect on our children. Neglect and abuse condemns a child to an empty, unfulfilling, and perpetual life of crime and poverty. Each child we lose to this unending spiral of abuse and neglect spawns an exponential growth in abuse and neglect that becomes more difficult to solve with each succeeding generation. I applaud your efforts and am honored to add my signature to support this worthy and important cause.”

Chief of Police Lawrence Eggert
Lockport Police Department
Lockport, New York

“I am the mother of a homicide victim and a crime victims advocate. I have seen too many children who were abused and know the toll it takes on them and, therefore, on society. Too many grow up to be abusers and to hurt and kill in their own turn. And those who do live to become functioning adults are wounded for life, even if they are able to end the cycle of violence.”

Janice Grieshaber Geddes
Executive Director (ret.), Jenna Foundation
Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Board Member
Manlius, New York

“For the last six years, I have been the primary prosecutor for child abuse cases in my county. I have sat with children as they cried, recounting horrific acts of physical and sexual abuse that were inflicted by loved ones and persons that they trusted. Many of these victims told me that the physical act of abuse itself was not the worst part; they indicated that they were hurt most by the betrayal. They could not understand how someone who claimed to love them could hurt them in that way. And they will never regain that trust. Their innocence has been stolen.”

District Attorney Gregory Oakes
Oswego County District Attorney’s Office
Oswego, New York

“As a department, we have decided that in order to make a positive change in our future, we have to invest in the very kids who will be in charge of it. As we have gotten more proactive in reaching out to the kids in our city, we have seen first hand the effect both physical and mental abuse has on them. For law enforcement officers to hear about child abuse is one thing, but to actually meet and talk to the kids face to face makes these horrible crimes real. If we can stop the cycle now, through either education or enforcement, we can help save countless kids in the future.”

Chief of Police Jeff Ledford
Shelby Police Department
Shelby, North Carolina

“Because these kids deserve a chance and we need to do everything that we can to ensure that they do. I have worked and have seen too many child abuse and neglect cases in my 38 years of law enforcement.”

Chief of Police Ike Shirley
Bixby Police Department
Bixby, Oklahoma

“I, along with my staff, continue to see an ever increasing number of child abuses reported to our office. We realize for every case reported a large number go unreported. The cases my office worked have been from spanking children to the death of an infant and everything imaginable in between. The crimes were committed, for the most part, by people that were caretakers of the children. The most severe cases are usually committed by the child’s parent. We should all be working together to find a solution to this growing problem. I have pledged to do all I can to stop this plague from continuing.”

Sheriff John Christian
Pontotoc County Sheriff’s Office
Ada, Oklahoma

“I have served as a foster parent and receiving home for battered and neglected children. I worked child abuse as a detective and street officer. We simply must do more to care for our children. They cannot fight back so we must stand for them.”

Chief of Police Kenneth Johnson
Fairview Police Department
Fairview, Oregon

“In 22 years seeing every violent crime imaginable, nothing should make a hardened prosecutor cry.  Seeing a 3-year-old child being autopsied, with not more than a square inch of his body free of abrasions, lacerations, or bruising, is a vision that still haunts me. Sending his stepmother to prison is not enough.  We need to make sure that we have prevention and resources in Oregon to prevent abuse.”

District Attorney Dan Norris
Malheur County District Attorney’s Office
Vale, Oregon

“As a former Child Protective Services caseworker and supervisor, and as the father of a child murdered by a young man who was extremely neglected as a child, I am acutely aware of the need for more funding and more services to prevent and intervene on behalf of neglected and abused children.”

Dr. Dennis Lees
Eugene, Oregon (formerly of El Dorado and Contra Costa County, California)
“Sarah’s Dad”

“Tomorrow morning I will go to court for a hearing in a case involving the death of a 9 month old baby girl who died as a result of physical abuse. This child and too many others like her are killed by abuse and neglect before they ever even learn to speak and ask for help. My job is to be their voice. I am asking you to help us by giving us the tools necessary to both prevent these kinds of crimes as well as respond to them when they do.

Her name was Talayna.”

Solicitor Kevin Brackett
16th Judicial Circuit of South Carolina
York, South Carolina

“It is my heartfelt belief that all adults have a inherent responsiblity to protect the most fragile in our communities. Amongst these are children, elderly, and the disabled. We are honor bound to do so because they do not have the ability to protect themselves. Additionally, for those of us who have chosen this honorable position in law enforcement, we have an extra special responsibility and duty to these very important citizens. We are all that most of them have in terms of protection. No child should ever be abused, physically or sexually. It is our responsiblity to prevent it from happening, or in the unfortunate reality of it, capture and prosecute those who do it and find protection and help for the victims.”

Chief of Police David B. Rausch
Knoxville Police Department
Knoxville, Tennnessee

“The city in which I work is located in Lubbock County, Texas which has one of the highest rates of child abuse in Texas. Having been a law enforcement officer for 20 years I have dealt with many heart-wrenching cases of child abuse. Over the last several years I have served on the board of directors of The Parenting Cottage, which is a not for profit organization that offers voluntary, in home, evidence based, parent education to at risk families in an effort to curb, among other things, child abuse.

I have witnessed the positive outcome of these programs and know the importance they have in preventing child abuse. This year, The Parenting Cottage, was drastically affected by budget cuts in state funding that were directed at these very important programs. It is only with the support of agencies such as United Way, and generous donations from the public that we have been able to keep the doors open. Unfortunately all too often, legislators do not understand the importance of these programs when they are considering areas in which to cut the budget. It is only through education that we have a hope in preventing the failure of these programs due to a lack of funds.”

Chief of Police Rick Scott
Wolfforth Police Department
Wolfforth, Texas

“On October 5, 2010 the Caroline County Sheriff’s Office received a report of two children being abused by their father. Statements obtained by the detective from the two children were used in the successful prosecution of the offender. The children made many statements of being physically and emotionally being abused. Both children also describe two sticks that the offender used to beat them with repeatedly.

Statement made to detective by 7 year old victim: My dad has hit me against the wall. Threw me down. He calls me cuss words. He pulls my hair. He done all of those things to me like 1000 times. He hit me with it. It has holes.

Statement made to detective by 10 year old victim: My dad has hit me multiple times. He has slapped me he has pulled my hair. He has almost fractured my arm, (by bending it backwards). He has punched me before and called me cuss words and names. He has threatened to beat me and he did one time (with a belt). The offender was charged with felony domestic assault and 2 counts of felony child abuse. The defendant was convicted on all three counts and received a total of 3 years three months active time, ten years suspended, and 20 years of probation.”

Sheriff Tony Lippa
Caroline County Sheriff’s Office
Bowling Green, Virginia

“I’ve responded to all types of crimes during 24 years with the Kirkland Police, from violent crime to domestic disturbances and all types of emergency situations. However, there’s no question that crimes involving child victims are the most distressing for an officer. I vividly remember the day when as a young patrol officer I responded to a complaint of loud music coming from an apartment. My partner and I pushed open the unlatched door, we found a toddler—bruised, dirty and frightened. No adult in sight.

At first glance, we thought we had found her abandoned in this filthy apartment, littered with drug paraphernalia and empty alcohol bottles. Until we discovered her father passed out in the bedroom. We wrapped the toddler in a blanket, and with the help of the Teddy Bear we always kept in our patrol car, took her to the safety of our station. Social services placed her in a foster home until she could be reunited with her mother, from whom she had been abducted on the East Coast several months before. The police department paid for the mother’s flight since she had no financial resources to make the trip.

The image of that little girl has stayed with me for over 18 years. Her physical wounds eventually healed, but what about the consequences of the psychological abuse and extreme neglect she experienced?  Did those ever heal?”

Chief of Police Eric Olsen
Kirkland Police Department
Kirkland, Washington