The Commissioner for Children is demanding answers from police after it was revealed that one Upper Hutt detective has a workload of 57 child abuse cases.
Child advocates were shocked to learn that some child sex offenders may be walking free while the detective struggles to cope with the cases.
Detective Constable Robin Best, in sole charge of child abuse investigations in Upper Hutt, said her workload was overpowering and many cases were not being fully investigated because of a lack of staff.
Child abuse investigators yesterday renewed calls for a national police child abuse coordinator to regulate investigations.
But Police Headquarters national crime manager Superintendent Bill Bishop said last night there were no plans to appoint such a coordinator as it was up to area controllers to monitor the workloads.
Police deal with child abuse case overload
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