Cathy Delapaz

Cathy Delapaz has extensive experience in Adult Education & Training. She specializes in managing the curriculum development process from initial program instructional design through Subject Matter Expert (SME) content development, then monitoring and maintaining a robust curriculum delivery process. She ensures all curriculum addresses cultural competence and victim-centered instructional approaches. Cathy has developed training programs for and delivered training through instruction to over 20,000 Criminal Justice system members as well as many community groups, NGOs, and NPOs. She has developed training for the FBI, The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, The Department of Justice, The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Child Advocacy Centers nationwide, Child Protective Services, Law Enforcement agencies, and many others.

She holds a Master's degree (M.Ed.) in Adult Education & Training, and a Bachelor’s in Criminal Justice. A Subject Matter Expert in all aspects of child sexual abuse and exploitation, child sex trafficking, and missing and abducted children, she is a 34-year veteran from the Dallas Police Department (Ret. 2019). There her assignments included 5 years as a uniformed patrol officer, 9 years as an undercover Narcotics Detective, 2 years in Internal Affairs and her last 18 yrs. in the Crimes Against Children (CAC) Unit.

While in the CAC Unit Cathy co-founded the Dallas Police Department's (DPD) High-Risk Victim (HRV) Model in 2003, the first victim-centered, trauma-informed response to child sex trafficking victims in the US. The HRV model is responsible for development of a law enforcement led response protocol which dramatically increases recoveries and interviews of child sex trafficking victims, as well as access to victim advocacy and services. This model has been replicated across the country through her training and has broadly benefitted the field of law enforcement. She developed DPD's "Cross City" victim recovery operation model, later replicated by the FBI as "Cross Country". This model has recovered thousands of child sexual exploitation victims across the country. Cathy developed DPD's "Operation Brick & Mortar", a recovery operation resulting in many victim recoveries, buyer and trafficker arrests and a component of connection of victims to immediate advocacy services.

Cathy built a “victim recovery store”  for recovered runaways and sex trafficking victims within the DPD CAC Office. She secured recovery packages from community businesses that included: snacks, drinks, sweat suits, socks, toiletries, a backpack, a blanket, and an art set. She also built an adult recovery package for recovered adult sex trafficking victims that included essentials, as well as victim service providers emergency contact information. Thousands of victims in Dallas received these packages over the span of 2003-2019. She secured donations from the community to furnish a soft victim recovery interview room within the CAC Unit office space and a separate soft advocate interview room so children could move from the disclosure space when connecting with advocacy.

Cathy has conducted many undercover chat/sting operations focused on child sex buyers and traffickers. Cathy also developed long-term missing operations aimed at the recovery of children missing from Child Protective Services (CPS) care and other endangered missing.

She managed the daily operation of the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Unit, enacting daily processes to ensure optimal CyberTip management and investigative uniformity.

She also was responsible for investigation of active and cold case child abductions. Cathy has trained around the world on these subjects.