Jim Cole

Jim recently retired from Homeland Security Investigations after almost 35 years of total combined government/law enforcement service. Jim has served at the military, local and federal government levels. Jim founded HSI’s Victim Identification Program and Laboratory at the Cyber Crimes Center and quickly rose to international renown amongst his colleagues for his innovative work to rescue and identify children.  By setting up, staffing and equipping a state-of-the-art full featured Victim Identification Laboratory, the program would go on to identify and rescue thousands of children around the globe and continues to do so today. After being promoted to serve as the Section Chief for Victim Identification, Jim pioneered a variety of innovative approaches to Victim Identification working with a variety of tech providers and global law enforcement agencies.  Jim co-founded Project VIC, a victim-centric collaborative effort between law enforcement, industry partners and a variety of NGO’s with the mission to provide technology, methodologies and workflows to increase efficiencies for law enforcement who seize massive amounts of visual media related to child sexual exploitation investigations. The realized efficiencies allow law enforcement to identify and rescue victims while reducing work stress providing significant mental health benefits. Jim served as the Chair of the INTERPOL Specialists Group on Crimes Against Children from 2019 – 2023.

Experience