AUGUSTA – Legislation authorizing the Computer Crimes Task Force ends Jan. 1, 2004, even as the multi-agency group is being overwhelmed with requests for aid in investigating computer-related crimes across the state.

“We are asking funding be included in the emergency supplemental budget,” Public Safety Commissioner Michael Cantara said last week. “They are doing very important work.”

Cantara said while he is recommending continuation, Governor John Baldacci has not made any decisions on what to include in his budget. Law enforcement officials across the state are surprised the law sunsets before lawmakers are scheduled to return for their Second Regular session.

“This has to continue,” said Lewiston Police Chief William Welch. “It is absolutely essential we continue the effort, in fact, we should be expanding it.”

Aroostook County District Attorney Neale Adams agrees. He quipped the state needs “an armored division, not a task force” to deal with the growing number of computer-related crimes.

“They have been invaluable to us,” he said Friday. “My only complaint is how long it takes them to investigate a case. But, I understand it is a lack of resources, not a lack of trying.”

Assistant Attorney General Carlos Diaz has worked with the Task Force since its inception. He said the group gets a significant amount of its funding from federal sources under the Internet crimes against children program.

“These are very highly trained detectives that provide help to law enforcement agencies all over the state,” he said. “If a crime involves a computer, it’s likely that computer will end up at the computer forensic lab.”

He said cases investigated by the task force are prosecuted not only by the AG’s office, but by district attorneys and federal prosecutors as well. He said federal laws dealing with child pornography are tougher than state laws.

Maine State Police Sgt. Glenn Lang is the supervisor of the task force. He is baffled why his job is scheduled to end New Years Day.

“All I know is I have been told we will continue to work here,” he said during an interview last week at the task force lab located at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy in Vassalboro. “We can’t afford to take any time off from this.”

Computers, hard drives, Zip drives and other electronic information storage devices are stacked at computer work stations at the lab waiting to be examined.

A single computer hard drive in a child pornography case may have more than 60,000 images that have to be reviewed, one at a time. That takes up to 80 hours.

In 2002, the task force had 420 cases referred to it from various agencies, but only 223 were actually investigated. In the first nine months of this year, the number of referrals is up to 407. And, Lang said, many complaints that are made to local police never make it to the task force.

He said like a hospital emergency room, the task force has to assess each referral and only deal with the most important.

“We have to triage cases as they come in and those that involve jeopardy quickly rise to the top,” Lang said. “Child pornography, sexual assault, threats of violence, they go to the top.”

He said the reality is that the person ripped off on eBay, or some other Internet sales site, will not get the help they need because of the lack of resources.

In addition to Lang, there is one full-time state police detective and one from the Lewiston Police Department. There is also a Brunswick police officer assigned part time to the task force.

“We have one case I know where we are dealing with fraud on eBay, and we are talking millions of dollars,” Welch said. “What really scares me is what we are missing in the four or five cases we turn down for every one we do.”

Adams agreed. He said lawmakers should consider expanding the task force to handle the growing number of business related crimes.