Eugene, Ore. (KMTR) -- Budget cuts are forcing Lane County Sheriff's Office (LCSO) detectives to shelve undercover child porn investigations, leaving offenders on the streets.
Instead of being proactive, detectives will now wait for people and businesses to report child porn downloads.
The Sheriff's Office had to cut its forensic analyst. He basically ran the undercover computer, discovering most of the pornography crimes investigated by detectives.
Now, if they get a tip, it has to be outsourced to other agencies for forensic help.
LCSO says there is a large number of child porn downloads in Lane County, enough to keep two full time detectives busy.
One recent case involved more than 40,000 downloads.
At the time of the budget cuts, there were more than forty cases that will likely never be investigated.