Chesco prosecutor seeks detective for child abuse

Child-abuse cases have nearly tripled in Chester County since 2006, officials said Wednesday, and the District Attorney's Office is asking the county to hire a detective specifically to deal with the increased caseload.

Although they won't put together the 2014 budget until the end of this year, the county commissioners said Wednesday that they supported the proposal.

"This is a concern. We want to get out ahead of letting this fester and do what we can to ensure the safety of our most vulnerable citizens," Commissioner Terrence Farrell said.

The last six years have seen a dramatic increase in reports of child abuse in the county, officials said. In 2006, county detectives fielded 121 reports of child abuse; by 2012, that number had jumped to 331. This year's reports are on track to continue the trend, Prosecutor Thomas P. Hogan said.

It's unclear how many of those cases were prosecuted. County detectives investigate each report of child abuse regardless - and the increased workload has put a strain on the department, officials said.

Hogan said the increase in cases does not necessarily mean more people are abusing children. It may mean more people are reporting suspected instances of abuse.

He said that with the attention to scandals involving former Pennsylvania State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky and Catholic clergy, "people are becoming more sensitized to reporting child abuse. People are understanding they're not alone in the world."

If the position is approved, the new detective would have a base salary around $78,000, and with benefits, the cost to the county would be about $100,000.

The District Attorney's Office has two detectives investigating reports of child abuse; if a new detective is hired, one would return to the office's major-case squad, lessening the workload on that department.

"We're already eyeballing a crop of already-trained forensic interviewers," Hogan said.

Hogan said he met with each commissioner individually to discuss the proposal.

The county commissioners said they were motivated by several child-abuse cases that have made headlines in recent months, including a Chester County prison lieutenant who allegedly abused seven children in his care.

"People are reading these stories in the newspaper," County Commissioner Ryan Costello said. "Every week we hear of something horrific."

Hogan said he would not ask for any other increases in his office's 2014 budget and will otherwise "try to come in under budget" by December.

In general, county departments have been encouraged to cut 2 percent from their budgets each year, and the county has been under a hiring freeze since 2008.