Internet Crimes Against Children task force's funding drops as caseload grows larger

SALT LAKE CITY — Even though bad guys know the law is actively looking for them, members of the Utah Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force are staying busy.

"Everybody knows that our officers are online. Everybody knows we're looking to catch child pornographers," Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said. "And yet the numbers just aren't going down. That is a message of alarm to parents."

At a news conference Wednesday, Shurtleff touted the record-setting performance of task-force agents and prosecutors. In 2009, the multi-agency group based out of the attorney general's office recorded 130 arrests, up from 108 in 2008 and 77 in 2007.

"The nearly 70 percent increase in arrests represents a very real gain in the number of children being protected," said Capt. Jessica Farnsworth, the newly named task-force commander.

"Those who have been charged with child pornography are often involved with the actual physical sexual exploitation of the child victims, and many admit to victimizing multiple children," she said.

The increase in arrests comes as state and federal dollars that support the task force are in decline.

"We're only able to investigate a small percentage of the cases that we're getting because we don't have the manpower," Farnsworth said.

She said she and her agents spent countless overtime hours in January searching online for child pornographers and people seeking to rendezvous with minors for sex. The time spent in what she called "the cyber sewer" resulted in 16 arrests in a sweep last month dubbed Operation Frostbite.

Farnsworth said agents rescued several children during the operation and were able to get help for them.

"One child sent a text message to the agent thanking him for arresting the offender," she said. "The abuse stopped for them, but there's more work that needs to be done. There's still more children out there that continue to be abused."

Shurtleff took the opportunity to praise state legislators for giving officers the tools and financial support they've needed over the years to track down those who use the Internet to prey on children.

"We couldn't do this without those tools, without, not only the personnel, but tougher laws, the ability to house and keep these people locked up," he said.

Shurtleff's news conference came one day after a House committee approved a bill that would expand his office's power to issue a subpoena for electronic records.