Byron Fassett

Byron Fassett is a nationally recognized subject matter expert (SME) on the victimization of women and children through sex trafficking, child sexual abuse and exploitation, and has over 37 years law enforcement experience with the Dallas Police Department.  For over 25 years, Byron specialized in conducting investigations involving the sexual abuse and exploitation of children in with Dallas Police Department supervising the department’s Child Exploitation Squad which handled approximately 1,100 cases a year, consisted of 17 detectives and was divided into three teams; the Investigations Team, the High Risk Victims and Trafficking Team, (HRVT) and the Internet Crimes Against Children Team (ICAC). These teams investigate child abductions, child pornography, victimization of children through sex trafficking, sexual assaults of children by non-family members/strangers, Internet facilitated sexual abuse of children, and other forms of sexual abuse and exploitation of children.

Byron developed and wrote the grant for the Sexual Offender Apprehension Program (SOAP) and started the SOAP team in the Dallas Police Department’s Child Exploitation Squad. He co-developed and wrote the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) grant for the Dallas Police Department and started the ICAC team in the Department’s Child Exploitation Squad.

In 2003, Byron Fassett co-developed the nationally recognized High Risk Victims and Trafficking Team (HRVT) within the Dallas Police Department. The HRVT Team specializes in investigations involving the sexual abuse and exploitation of high-risk/multiple runaways, child victims of trafficking, and repeat victims of sexual abuse. Additionally, the HRVT team proactively identifies cases with children who have repeat/multiple runaways and has enacted a mandatory interview policy to identify current or past victimization. Byron Fassett co-authored an article, “Juvenile Prostitution: An Overlooked Form of Child Sexual Abuse” in 1994 for the APSAC ADVISOR (American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children). Byron initiated and co-developed the Dallas County Child Sex Trafficking Care Coordination Team. This team provides a comprehensive response for all identified High Risk Victims and Child Sex Trafficking Victims.

Byron has provided training to over 10,000 law enforcement officers, child protection officials, first responders, and a wide range of child protection stakeholders, both nationally and Internationally, on the issue of sex trafficking with regards to dynamics, investigative, and intervention techniques in the United States, Canada, Thailand, and numerous other countries in Southeast Asia. Byron has been qualified as an expert in both federal and state court on the dynamics of child sex trafficking and investigative and intervention techniques. He has instructed for Fox Valley Technical College, The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), FBI Academy, and various other agencies and conferences throughout the country and Internationally.

In his current position as the Program Manager for the National Criminal Justice Training Center (NCJTC), AMBER Alert Training and Technical Assistance (AATTAP) and Missing and Exploited Child (MEC) Programs, Byron is responsible for developing and delivering training and technical assistance to law enforcement, prosecutors, social services, child protection officials, on issues related to child protection, exploitation, sex trafficking, and youth at risk of victimization.