SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. — The Sacramento County Sheriff's Office called on people twice to push state leaders and the governor to keep the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) funded.
The call to action came from two video news releases about child pornography arrests, which included the arrest of Demetrius Carl Davis, who is accused of grooming more than 80 children around the world into producing child pornography.
In part, the video highlighted how the internet has made it easier for abusers to reach vulnerable children, and that ICAC, which investigates these types of heinous crimes, is in danger of being disbanded, according to the sheriff's office.
"I could not be more concerned. If there is one team I would not want to see disbanded, it is that one. It is that important," Sgt. Rod Grassmann, spokesperson for the sheriff's office, said.
H.D. Palmer, spokesperson for the California Department of Finance, said the money was only set to be around for a limited time at $5 million per year for three years.
"Consistent with the terms of that appropriation, the current fiscal year (FY 2021-22) represents the third and final year of that three-year, limited term appropriation," Palmer told ABC10.
But there are still calls to get that funding back in the budget. Efforts are underway, along with some political mudslinging, in the race for Sacramento County Sherriff.
Assemblyman Jim Cooper (D-Elk Grove), who spearheaded funding for ICAC, and Undersheriff Jim Barnes are both running for Sacramento County Sheriff.
"Every year, I fought back with governors — Governor Brown and the current governor — to get the funding restored," Cooper said.
Cooper, a former commander for the Sacramento ICAC task force, said he is still pushing for increased funding. In a letter dated March 2022, he requested the budget committee earmark $10 million dollars for ICAC.
Read the letters submitted over the years below.
Cooper said he has issues with his opponent's appearance in the sheriffs office's produced YouTube video. In the video, Barnes says "funding is imperative to help ICAC personnel bring these abusers to justice."
Cooper and state officials told ABC10 the sheriff's office hasn't formally submitted requests for ICAC funding.
"It bothers me that, as a commander, I saw those images for three years, and I worked with those detectives while they were making those arrests. And for Jim Barnes to come in now and say 'Hey, it's a big deal' - the production, the whole YouTube video, it's just self-serving," Cooper said.
ABC10 requested comment from both the sheriff's office and the campaign team for Barnes. Sheriff Scott Jones fired back at the assemblyman's comments, providing the following statement to ABC10.
"If you are suggesting that the only way that critical functions of our public safety mission should be funded is if we 'advocate' for them with the legislature suggests that those same legislators see no inherent value in these functions on their own," Jones said. "For Assemblymember Cooper to suddenly change his course this year, and conspire with his cronies to artificially endanger funding so he can thereafter come in as the hero and restore it simply for his own political gain is not only juvenile, it endangers the very children he feigns to want to protect. The protection of our most vulnerable is too critical to be politicized and it is disgusting that Mr. Cooper would attempt to do so."
Barnes' campaign did not immediately respond to ABC10's inquiry.
Meanwhile, the governor's office had no comment on the budget line item.
However, Gov. Gavin Newsom is in a budget-revision process until May 14. The legislature can even add to the budget by June 15.
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