LEWISTON – The Maine Computer Crimes Task Force has a backlog of nearly 80 computers waiting to be checked for child pornography, eBay fraud, stalking, threats or other crimes.

It can’t get to them all.

The task force is considering a formal policy to put people crimes ahead of property crimes and telling police departments around the state, “You may submit a computer for a property crimes case, but it may be a year or better before we get to it,” said Police Chief William Welch.

And some, they may not get to.

“I don’t want to deceive people when they drop stuff off here,” said Sgt. Glenn Lang, the Maine State Police computer task force supervisor. “If we’re not going to get to it, at least tell them that.”

Formed in the fall of 1999, the task force has seen more and more action each year. In 2000, 94 computers were dropped off to be examined for evidence. The process can take upwards of 60 hours of work by a forensic investigator.

They check e-mail, Internet sites the user has visited, photos stored on hard drives, chat room discussions, lists they’ve made to themselves.

This year, as of early December, 155 computers had been brought in.

There’s a degree of weeding out cases already, Welch said. “For every one we take in we turn away every three to five.”

Chair of the task force’s policy board, Welch said on Monday he was drafting a letter to the state’s police chiefs and sheriffs to get input on the proposed policy.

One idea: Having departments pay to move their case up the priority list.

The backlog comes at a time of some financial uncertainty. The task force’s state appropriation expires Jan. 1, money used to pay for training, equipment and salaries.

Public Safety Commissioner Michael Cantara said he’s taken administrative steps to fund Lang’s position by trying to use money left from unfilled openings. He’s still awaiting approval.

He’s also hoping to get about $100,000 put into the supplemental budget that goes before the Legislature this winter for the coming 18 months, about half what it got last year.

“We’re going to stretch the dollars as far as we can,” Cantara said.

The number of staff and volume of requests have kept things “strained,” Welch said. He plans on testifying before the Legislature, lobbying for money for the program. “Our position becomes stronger as we’re able to present the need,” he said.

The task force has one full-time certified examiner at headquarters in Vassalboro, two examiners in Lewiston and an officer loaned from Brunswick part-time.

“I could keep 10 more examiners busy full-time up here,” Lang said.

He said they’ve had a recent spurt of eBay rip-offs to examine – one for a $3,000 no-show snowmobile – and several cases forwarded from the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife involving illegal guide and whitewater operations.