Dear Representatives Wagner and Garcia,
I am writing on behalf of the members of the Fraternal Order of Police to advise you of our support for H.R. 5182, the “Child Online Safety Modernization Act.”
In 2022, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) CyberTipeline collected more than 32 million reports of online child sexual abuse materials, which was an 89% increase from 2019. This dramatic rise in cases demands action and reinforces the need for improved reporting and data collecting to bolster prevention efforts led by NCMEC and law enforcement.
This legislation would strengthen the NCMEC CyberTipline by modernizing and improving the reporting process, extending the required preservation period for individual reports to one year, and replacing the term, “child pornography,” with “child sexual abuse materials” throughout all Federal statutes. Reports will request more information to better equip officers in addressing such illegal activity and require platforms to report any instances of child trafficking or sexual enticement. This will allow officers to enter investigations with more information and leads, putting them on the right track to catch these dangerous criminals and protect the children in our communities.
The FOP is deeply concerned about the rise in illicit child predatory activity and we believe that this measure is a step in the right direction.
On behalf of the more than 373,000 members of the Fraternal Order of Police, we thank you two for your leadership on this critical issue. If I can be of any additional assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me or Executive Director Jim Pasco in our Washington, D.C. office.
Sincerely,
Patrick Yoes
National President