By Attorney General Raúl Labrador
Dear Friends,
Parents, you’re the first line of defense when it comes to protecting your kids online and otherwise, but in an ever-evolving digital world, it’s good to know that you have help keeping kids safer online from threats and those who wish to do harm. That is why, when I became Attorney General in January 2023, I made reforming and improving Idaho’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force one of my top priorities.
At the time, the unit was in crisis. The office had a backlog of over 1,400 CyberTips, which delayed responses to potential threats and efforts to protect kids. Not every tip was an active threat of online child exploitation, thankfully, but they were tips that needed to be thoroughly investigated by our team to determine whether there was a threat we needed to address. On top of that, arrests were low at just 13 in 2022, the year before I took office. The tips were coming in, but our investigators were not able to get to them in time. So I made it a priority to find out what needed fixing and made the changes necessary to make a difference.
Today, that picture has changed. We eliminated the entire backlog. We cut the average time to review a tip from more than 17 days per tip to under 24 hours. And we matched that speed with real enforcement. There have been 50 arrests so far in 2025. That puts us on track to break last year’s record of 55 arrests, which was more than the previous three years combined.
This year, we have also continued to expand ways to better investigate and arrest suspects. In April, we acquired K-9 Badger, one of only 195 certified Electronic Storage Detection dogs in the world. He is trained to find hidden devices like flash drives and phones that predators try to conceal. During “Operation Unhinged” this summer, Badger helped locate digital evidence in eight separate search warrants. He has been a game-changer when it comes to stopping these individuals.
The numbers (as of July 2025) speak for themselves:
- 2,048 CyberTips (an average of 79 per week) reviewed and no backlog
- 136 search warrants executed
- 350 forensic examinations completed
- 433 cases supported with technical assistance
- 68 public outreach events, a 161 percent increase over last year’s total
We are not just making arrests. We are equipping parents and schools with information. Our outreach warns families about online threats that target children through gaming platforms and phone apps. We are making sure Idaho families are informed and prepared because parents are the first line of defense when it comes to protecting their children.
This work is hard. Our investigators face darkness most people cannot imagine. They see the worst in order to protect the innocent. That is why we invest in mental health resources and resiliency training for every full-time team member. If we are going to fight evil, we must take care of the good.
The turnaround we achieved was not luck. It was the result of focused leadership, a dedicated team, and a refusal to tolerate failure. We built something Idaho can be proud of.
Predators continue to evolve their methods. But we are working harder than ever to stay ahead of them and to protect every child in this state from digital exploitation and abuse. Protecting Idaho families remains my top priority. I am proud of our team’s work and will keep pressing to keep families informed and safer across our state.
Best regards
About Raúl Labrador
Raúl Labrador is the 33rd Attorney General of Idaho. The Office of the Attorney General provides legal representation for the State of Idaho. This representation is furnished to state agencies, offices and boards in the furtherance of the state's legal interests. The office is part of state government’s executive branch and its duties are laid out in the Idaho Constitution.
