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The Kirksville Regional Computer Crimes Unit was awarded nearly $60,000 to continue in the fight against cyber crime.

    
The internet crime lab, located at the Kirksville Police Department covers 13 counties in Northeast Missouri.

    
Missouri has been ranked among the national leaders in its efforts to fight internet crime like child pornography and sexual predators.

“They're dealing with our kids all the time on the computers and so we can turn a blind eye to this and say it's not going to happen in our counties and our city but it's happening all the time, so it just depends whether we want somebody to work those cases and try to slow some of that down or whether we just want to let it go and we've decided that we definitely don't want to let it go,” King said.

Authorities say the Kirksville lab has come a long way from its start six years ago.

“We had a couple refurbished computers and we were in a very small about a four by ten little strip of a room back here that used to actually be the drive-up window for the bank when the bank was here. That's where we stared out and then we very quickly began getting busy and having arrests of our own and cases to work,” said Deputy Chief Tim King.

    
The lab was moved into a larger room and houses three machines for forensic exams and more computers.
   
King says the lab has enough work to keep three fulltime employees busy, but they only have the resources for one fulltime employee. The grant money will pay for that employee’s salary, overtime pay for other workers, and a few training sessions.

The lab exams forensic evidence through computer hard drives, cell phones, and online chatting.