CLEVELAND (AP) — Canton police detective Bryan Allen watched a video on his computer that disturbed him so much that he left work and went home to process what he saw.
Allen is 22-year veteran of law enforcement and a member of the Cleveland FBI's Child Exploitation Task Force and the video was of a man raping a boy, no older than two years old. Allen is required to look at these sorts of videos as part of his job, and his job takes its toll.
"Some of them just take it out of you," the 48-year-old detective said.
Allen and the hundreds of other investigators who work child pornography and exploitation cases nationwide must reckon with the short- and long-term psychological impact of repeatedly being exposed to images of helpless children being violated.
Three investigators interviewed by cleveland.com spoke of the taxing nature of the work. All three have to undergo a yearly psychological evaluation to ensure they are still mentally capable of working cases involving child pornography.
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