Wade Williams

Lt. Williams has been a law enforcement officer for 21 years, 16 of those in investigations, and holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Criminology from Florida State University.  For approximately 10 years, Lt. Williams supervised the Exploitation Section within the Criminal Investigations Division’s Special Crimes Bureau at the Collier County Sheriff’s Office.  He was promoted in 2023 to the rank of Lieutenant over the INTERCEPT Task Force and Victim Services Bureau.  The INTERCEPT Task Force and Victim Services includes the SWFL INTERCEPT Task Force and Victim and Senior Services.  The INTERCEPT (Inter-Agency Child Exploitation and Persons Trafficking) Task Force is a regional operational task force, created by Operation Light Shine, comprised of Federal, State and local law enforcement responsible for the investigation of child exploitation and human trafficking.  He is a member of the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Federal Task Force, a cross-designated Federal Task Force Officer with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), a member of the Southwest Florida Child Abduction Response Team (CART), and a member of the Southwest Florida Human Trafficking Task Force.  The ICAC Task Force was created to help Federal, State and local law enforcement agencies enhance their investigative responses to offenders who use the Internet, online communication systems, or computer technology to sexually exploit children. The Program is funded by the United States Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.  The ICAC Program is a national network of 61 coordinated task forces representing over 3,000 federal, state, and local law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies who work closely with each other and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Lt. Williams regularly trains members of the public and other law enforcement officers on matters of internet safety, internet crimes against children, missing person investigations, and human trafficking and is committed to educating our community on these important issues.  Lt. Williams has received twenty different awards and recognition over his career, including being named the 2019 Law Enforcement Official of the Year by the Florida Office of the Attorney General Ashley Moody at the 2019 Human Trafficking Summit.

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