On Friday, April 19, 2013 at 1:30 p.m. at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, Sheriff Baca participated in a press conference with the Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect (ICAN) to announce two annual reports; Child Death Review Team Report and the ICAN State of Child Abuse in Los Angeles County Report.

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“The most important source of protection comes from friends, family, neighbors and the community,” said Deanne Tilton Durfee. “The reality is that child abuse and neglect can be prevented before it is known to the system, before it becomes a tragic reality.”

These extensive reports represent the most comprehensive County level child abuse data that have been collected by hands on professionals dealing with children and families. ICAN is the County’s official agent to unify City, County, State and Federal agencies, with the community to prevent child abuse and neglect of children in Los Angeles County acting as a safety net.

Sheriff Baca, chairperson of ICAN, spoke at the press conference along with ICAN Executive Director Deanne Tilton Durfee, Department of Children and Family Services Director Philip Browning, County Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran, Department of Mental Health Director Marvin Southard and Department of Public Health Director Jonathan Fielding.

“Law enforcement sees the short and long-term results of child abuse on the streets, in our schools and on the internet,” Said Sheriff Baca. “I am proud to be a part of the many agencies working together to protect our children because child abuse of any kind will not be tolerated.”

A policy committee meeting of over 30 interagency officials followed the press conference where they discussed issues on child and youth homicides, suicides, accidents, unsafe sleeping and human trafficking of youth.

They also reviewed the impact of internet cybercrimes on children and the projected findings for 2012. Officials considered a recommendation to support legislation amending AB 717, which took effect on January 1, 2012, and excluded law enforcement from reporting child abuse to the California Child Abuse Central Index.

ICAN’s goal and purpose is to provide a system wide perspective on child abuse, to share information from all the different agencies that touch the lives of children in Los Angeles County, and to make recommendations for improvement of that system.