Washington & St. Tammany Parishes - The Model for the New Special Victims Unit Task Force

Local and state law enforcement leaders, state leaders and representatives from the Child Advocacy Center and the District Attorney’s Office met this morning (August 29, 2025) on the steps on the Hope House to announce a new collaborative partnership aimed at making our community a safer place for our children to live and grow.

The new 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐕𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐬 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐭 𝐓𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞 will serve as a regional, multi-agency initiative dedicated to identifying, investigating and prosecuting crimes against children. The task force was formed in direct response to the overwhelming number of cyber tips received by the Attorney General’s Office from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. 

𝐀𝐭𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐋𝐢𝐳 𝐌𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥 noted that thanks to the increased use of the internet there has been a 1200 percent increase in tips coming in through the state tip line in the last 10 years. 

“𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘪𝘱𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘴,” 𝐌𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥 said. “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 (𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘵. 𝘛𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘞𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘰𝘯 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘴) 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦.”

“𝘓𝘰𝘶𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘢’𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯, 𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 22𝘯𝘥 𝘑𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘵’𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯, 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦𝘳,” 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐬 𝐌𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥, executive director of the Children’s Advocacy Center, stated in response to the formation of this new Task Force. 

The CAC, which operates Hope House, has provided services to 364 children since the beginning of this year. Each child who comes through their doors places a button in a jar that sits on a bookshelf inside Hope House. All of these children experienced a criminal investigation in conjunction with a crime committed against them. Mitchell said this Task Force is a preventative measure that will hopefully reduce that number, by making an arrest before a local child is physically harmed or abused. 

“𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩,” 𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐟 𝐑𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐲 𝐒𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐡 said. “𝙄𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙡𝙤𝙞𝙩 𝙤𝙧 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙢 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙣. 𝙒𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣, 𝙬𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙪𝙩𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙚𝙭𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩!”