Same facts here, different conclusion.
Small agencies facing cutbacks because of budget shortages. The stimulus money to fight Internet crime saved their jobs, and created some.
MO is a different place than the rest of the country, then.
Plus, I see money with task forces not paying small agencies to do the job on their own. Task forces might fund a position, but they sometimes tend to save a position that might otherwise be cut. If it weren't for the funding, the position would be lost.
No matter how you cut it, there just are not a whole lot of agencies involved in the pursuit of internet criminals. The resources just are not there for the agency, and often times for the prosecuting office. Hunting down an eBay fraud suspect that might be in Miami with a victim in California would probably cost far more than the fraud itself, so it is usually turned over to the state or the feds who tend to drop the matter unless the fraud is part of a pattern, an organization, or the dollar value of the loss hits a certain minimum (usually in the mid to high tens of thousands out here). California is the hub of high tech and even out here we are seeing cutbacks in this area.
To those agencies that can and do have the resources to pursue internet based crime, more power to them! But, they are the exception and not the rule. And if the feds decide that the problem is such that they will start to pony up more money for it, great! Maybe the lsot high tech crimes task forces will return one day. until that day comes, we have seen these units dissolve in the last couple of years out here.
