Monroe County Sheriff Launches V.I.P.E.R. Task Force To Combat Human Trafficking

MONROE, Michigan — The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office launched a new crime task force to combat human trafficking.

The announcement of the new task force was made during a news conference Thursday morning at the Monroe County Emergency Management building.

The new team is called V.I.P.E.R., which stands for Violent Internet Predator Exploitation Response. It’s made up of members from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, Monroe Police Department and Michigan State Police.

They started in July and two of their operations have led to the arrest of five alleged predators – some from Toledo. All five were charged with one count of child sexually abusive activity – a 20 year felony – one count of accosting a child for immoral purposes and one count of using a computer and internet to commit a crime.

“The national statistics are very clear. For every individual we take off the street, we save 24 victims,” said Sheriff Troy Goodnough.

The task force was trained by the Genessee County G.H.O.S.T. team in Mid-Michigan.

Category: Law Enforcement