Sen. Bill Diamond says he'll settle for one more staff for the State Police computer crimes unit rather than the two that he was pushing for. The Windham Democrat, who co-chairs the Legislature's Appropriations Committee, says beefing up the unit is one of his top priorities, but tight money forced a compromise.
"We'd like to have had two because that would have solved the backlog," he told Capitol News Service. "We got one -- that's one more than they have now, and I think that's going to save some kids lives and save some torture on some young kids," he told Capitol News Service. "So to me it was worth it."
Diamond says hundreds of possible crimes involving child pornography are going uninvestigated because of a lack of staff. The urgency of dealing with the backlog was underscored by the committee's order that the new position be advertised immediately, so a new detective can be at work July first, the start of the new budget year.