Yesterday's announcement of Alicia's Law got lots of press coverage, including this from the Virginian-Pilot:

"He hurt me so badly - my mind, body and soul," Kozakiewicz, now 19, told state lawmakers Wednesday during two committee hearings. "Inside I'm still that wounded little girl, whimpering and lost."

Kozakiewicz is sharing her story and lobbying politicians to spend more money to fight sexual exploitation of children, a crime fueled by the increasing popularity of the Internet, which makes sharing videos and images easy for criminals.

She is helping push an $18.9 million proposal to expand Virginia law enforcement efforts to go after sexual predators.

Introduced by Del. Brian Moran, D-Alexandria, and State Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville, the legislation, called Alicia's Law, proposes spending $6 million to create three state forensic computer labs - including one in Hampton Roads - to investigate and prosecute sex crimes against children.

The bill would also appropriate $3 million to existing state child pornography task forces and $4.5 million for grants to local law enforcement agencies.

An additional $1.25 million would go to the state attorney general's office for additional prosecutors and support staff.

Stories also ran in these news outlets: Richmond NBC 12, Roanoke News 7, and ABC Virginia.

ABC Richmond had more on the story:

Moran said the lack of resources at the federal, state and local levels means that only about 2 percent of reported cases of Internet child exploitation are investigated. And while Virginia has tough penalties for those who sexually abuse children, Moran said they mean nothing unless the predator is caught.

"Alicia's Law" would direct $3.8 million to expanding Virginia's two Internet Crimes Against Children task forces, which are part of a federal network to help state and local law enforcement agencies hunt down and prosecute child sexual predators. The new funding would establish a cyber unit in each county.

Bedford County Sheriff Mike Brown, who heads a task force in southwest and central Virginia known as Operation Blue Ridge Thunder, said agencies nationwide have made more than 11,000 arrests in the past eight years.

"We could make double that, triple, 10 times if we had the manpower and the funds to work these cases," Brown said.

From Oct. 1, 2006 to Aug. 31, 2007, the task forces received more than 18,000 complaints of Internet child exploitation, Brown said. Those complaints led to more than 2,000 arrests.

They also led to the forensic examination of more than 9,000 computers, creating a backlog officials say holds up investigations and keeps predators behind the keyboard. The proposal includes $6 million for creating three regional forensic labs that would focus only on child exploitation cases.

It also includes $4.5 million in grants for local law enforcement agencies, $1.5 million for new prosecutors and training, and another $500,000 for Internet safety education.