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Law-enforcement task forces and CHP urge expanded funding to address rising online child exploitation and forensic backlogs
Summary
CHP nd California Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task forces told the Assembly subcommittee that online child-exploitation tips and digital-forensics needs have risen sharply, and asked for more investigators, forensic capacity and $5 million proposed for Cal OES to support statewide ICAC work.
A state panel on internet crimes against children told the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Public Safety that tips and digital-forensics demands have risen sharply and called for expanded staffing, training and funding to investigate and identify victims.
Assistant Commissioner Robin Johnson told the committee the California Highway Patrol—omputer Crimes Investigation Unit (CCIU) has identified a large gap in enforcement and asked the subcommittee to treat CSAM (child sex-abuse material) distribution and human-trafficking-related investigations as a higher priority. Johnson described a January 2024 Elk Grove case in which investigators executed a search warrant and found more than 100,000 images and videos; she said that case exposed the then-legal circulation of AI-generated CSAM and that the CHP supported Assembly Bill 1831 to criminalize AI-generated CSAM in 2025. Johnson added, "At the end of the day, the real decision we all need to make is how many kids do we wanna save." The CHP said its CCIU handled four cases in 2022, ten in 2023…
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