For cases that involve the distribution of, or the possession of child abuse material, they can often take several years to complete and for the victims and family to see justice.

One of the biggest issues that the criminal justice system is facing right now, especially with regard to these sorts of cases, is a hefty backlog of work that needs to be completed in order for those cases to be solved.

The units who are tasked with seeking justice for these crimes, are in desperate need of more resources than they currently have. One area that authorities might consider looking is the amount of money they are funneling to perpetuating the drug war, they might find a few extra million that they could dedicate to a more worthy cause.

Addressing the backlog for child abuse cases that currently exists, is going to take time and it's a slow process, meanwhile though children are left vulnerable and predators left roaming the streets until the case is solved.

Up to 700 child abuse investigations are currently on hold.

Those hundreds of cases are just in one country alone, Ireland, and there are thousands more around the world waiting to be solved. There has been a drastic rise in child abuse cases in recent years, which is a reality that authorities admit is all thanks to improved detection methods and assistance that they are getting from internet service providers, that witness their customers accessing illegal material, which they then alert authorities about.

For many child abuse investigations they will often seize a variety of items such as computers, tablets, phones etc, and that material needs to be forensically examined. When investigators do not have authority to demand passwords, the devices can be sent overseas to be cracked and that will add further delays.

The delays that they are currently facing are putting entire cases at risk.

For example, it has been found that some of the devices at times have been stored incorrectly by authorities, and as a result have later become unreadable.

The longer the delays are, the more difficult it can be to seek justice, and it adds more difficulty for investigators who are trying to analyze those crime scenes and track down and rescue those children that they see in the images from the devices they've confiscated.

If the police need more resources to catch child predators, surely the communities that fund them would be more than willing to see their money being turned in that direction. The drug war has achieved nothing, drug use is still rampant across Ireland and elsewhere, meanwhile human trafficking and child abuse is rampant, and more resources are needed right now to tackle that problem and lock up predators that mean harm to their communities, more than any drug dealer or drug user could ever pose.

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