Some 40 people representing different agencies tasked with fighting child abuse in Covington County attending training Wednesday.

Kaci Perry, executive director of the Covington County Child Advocacy Center, said that the group heard from Al Danna, coordinator of the Crimes Against Children Unit for the Tampa Bay region.

Danna spoke on interviewing child molesters, sexual exploitation of children, false allegations of sexual abuse, pedophiles and child abductions and child abduction response team.

“Hearing special agent Al Danna speak about his 30-plus years investigating child sex crimes at the class presented by the Covington County Child Advocacy Center was fascinating and enlightening about his cases and the interviews he conducted,” said Chief Assistant District Attorney Grace Jeter, who also serves as prosecutor for these types of cases. “Even better, though, was hearing him speak about the different types of pedophiles and about how they think and plan and lure kids so they can molest them. With the emergence of social media and smart phones, the world seems to be a more danger place for my seventh grader and third grader than it was when I grew up, and as child predators become smarter, we have to be smarter as parents and teach our kids to be smarter.”

Perry said that the Andalusia Police Department, Opp Police Department, Covington County Sheriff’s Department, Covington County DHR, Escambia County DHR, the DA’s office and the Covington County Child Advocacy Center participated in the training.

“The CAC will continue to provide avenues to train and equip our team for the situations, so that our children have the best of the best on their side,” Perry said.

The training was presented and developed under a grant awarded by the Children’s Justice Task Force and coordinated with the Covington County Multi-Disciplinary Team.