FBI Milwaukee
Public Affairs Officer Caroline Clancy
(414)-489-3644
June 23, 2014

FBI and Wisconsin Law Enforcement Operation Cross Country VIII Partnership

Robert J. Shields, Jr., Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the Milwaukee Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in conjunction with numerous Wisconsin law enforcement and social service agencies, participated in the nationwide initiative known as Operation Cross Country Eight. Operation Cross Country, an annual law enforcement action that took place last week in 106 U.S. cities, highlights ongoing efforts by the Bureau—together with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners—to address the sexual exploitation of juveniles as part of our Innocence Lost National Initiative.

Since its creation in 2003, the Innocence Lost program has resulted in the identification and recovery of approximately 3,400 minors who have been sexually exploited. This year marks the eighth Operation Cross Country, the largest such enforcement action to date: 168 trafficking victims were recovered and 281 pimps were arrested across the country. In Wisconsin, six juveniles victims were rescued, and 12 pimps were arrested over a four-day period.

“The FBI and its partners recognize that human trafficking and crimes against children not only impacts metropolitan areas such as Milwaukee but affects communities across the whole state,” said SAC Shields. “Although we participated in Operation Cross Country Eight, we will remain vigilant with our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners in bringing those individuals to justice who prey on our most vulnerable citizens.”

Operation Cross Country is part of the Innocence Lost National Initiative that was created in 2003 by the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, in partnership with the Department of Justice and National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), to address the growing problem of domestic child sex trafficking in the United States.

To learn more about Operation Cross Country and the Innocence Lost National Initiative, visit www.fbi.gov, www.justice.gov, or www.ncmec.org.

Operation Cross Country VIII Participants:

  • Appleton Police Department
  • Baraboo Police Department Beloit Police Department
  • Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare
  • Dane County Sheriff’s Office
  • Department of Homeland Security-Homeland Security Investigations
  • Edgerton Police Department
  • FBI-Madison Resident Agency
  • Fond du Lac Police Department
  • Glendale Police Department
  • Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department
  • Kenosha Police Department
  • Madison Police Department
  • Medical College of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Adolescent Health Program
  • Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office
  • Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office
  • Milwaukee Police Department
  • Mount Pleasant Police Department
  • Outagamie County Sheriff’s Office
  • Pleasant Prairie Police Department
  • Racine County Sheriff’s Department
  • Racine County Sheriff’s Office
  • Racine Human Trafficking Task Force
  • Racine Police Department
  • Rock County Sheriff’s Department
  • Sturtevant Police Department
  • Town of Waterford Police Department
  • United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
  • United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Wisconsin
  • University of Wisconsin Police
  • West Allis Police Department
  • Wisconsin Department of Justice-Division of Criminal Investigations