Bedford Co., VA – A group of wounded veterans is coming to our area next week, where they will train to protect children from online predators.
The Southern Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force will host the HERO (Human Exploitation Rescue Operative) Child Rescue Corps. The fourth class in the program will train for a month at the task force’s Bedford County headquarters. A recently installed elevator will allow the veterans to access the forensic lab and classrooms.
The 2013 federal sequestration threatened to end the program before it even started. That’s when Sheriff Mike Brown’s Safe Surfin’ Foundation and Moose International bought the laptops that kept the program going. Sheriff Brown traveled to Oak Ridge, Tennessee that summer to meet with the inaugural class.
Local Vietnam veteran and advocate Steve Bozeman will be one of the speakers at a welcome event for the program participants Monday.
“They can get a job, working with some agencies and help solve some of these problems,” said Steve Bozeman. “These bad guys, take them off the street just like they did taking them off the streets in Iraq and Afghanistan. Get rid of ’em.”
The veterans will be presented with keys to Bedford County and with lifetime memberships to the local Military Order of the Purple Heart chapter.
Article source: WSET.com
