The decision to toss out child luring charges against a B.C. man may be the first of many -- and an overburdened court system isn't the only problem, according to an experienced sex crimes detective.

Det. Mike MacFarlane of the New Westminster police went online and undercover in the fall of 2009, posing as a teenaged girl to catch suspected child predators. His investigation resulted in the arrest of David Blattler, who allegedly arranged to meet the decoy for sex.

Although the case was a relatively straightforward one, it took 27 months to get to trial and a provincial court judge issued a stay of proceedings last month after ruling that the "intolerable" delay had infringed on Blattler's Charter right to a speedy trial.

The decision is the first of its kind MacFarlane has seen in his five years investigating online crimes like child pornography and luring, but he says it's quite possible more are on the way.

"You can imagine the kind of problems that are coming down the road," he told ctvbc.ca. "I can only see it getting worse."

In his decision on the Blattler case, Judge Daniel Steinberg cited a justice system that has been under-funded by the provincial government and is now "abysmally" under-equipped to handle a heavy caseload.

But MacFarlane says that when it comes to crimes committed online, there is another factor at play -- the ages and ages it takes to finish forensic analysis of all the evidence.

"To try and get it all put together, it can take some time. By the time you finish getting a full package together, months have gone by," he said.

That was a major factor in the judge's decision to stay Blattler's charges. It took investigators in Abbotsford a full 14 months to complete a draft forensic report.

Fourteen months is a significant delay, when Charter guidelines suggest that a case like Blattler's should only take between eight and 10 months to get to trial. But in some parts of the province, police have complained that a complete audit of a suspect's computers can take as long as 18 months.

And it's only going to get worse, according to MacFarlane. When he started in this line of work, investigators usually only had to worry about searching a suspect's home computer and maybe a laptop for child porn images and chat records. Now, incriminating evidence can be stored on everything from cell phones to tablets to iPods.

"I've gone, in my own residence, from one computer to five digital devices," MacFarlane.

"I could see it being a problem trying to keep up with the prolific amount of stuff you can find."

Just Thursday morning, MacFarlane's team executed a search warrant on a suspect's home, and came away with four devices that will need to be analyzed.

With the growing backlog in the court system to contend with, the extra time needed to survey evidence in online crimes could be the fatal blow to any number of cases against suspected child predators.

The solution, according to MacFarlane, is simple but likely expensive: "You need more people."

That point of view may be getting some support from frustrated judges.

In his decision to stay the luring charge against Blattler, Steinberg said that police deserved much of the blame for the delay in bringing the case to trial. But he also acknowledged that the officers responsible were juggling multiple murder investigations at the time.

"It may very well be that the police are as severely under-funded as the courts are. It would not surprise me in this province," the judge wrote.

Crown prosecutors are currently considering whether to appeal Steinberg's decision in the Blattler case.