According to a homicide detective working with the Arizona Child Welfare Agency has uncovered a disturbing trend in case files: Thousands of them, spanning all different types of cases, have been notated “N.I.” which stands for not investigated.

All in all, there have been 6,554 such cases found so far, and all of them were determined to be wrongfully shelved due to either neglect or malice. Most of the issue stem from Child Protective Services (CPS) being intensely overworked in recent years, thanks in some small part to a child welfare hotline that was reorganized by Gov. Brewer.

This scandal is serving as a major blow to Brewer’s administration, although she has released a statement saying “there must be accountability in this matter, and I will insist on further reforms to make sure it cannot happen again.”

The real issue at hand is that Gov. Brewer now has to handle taking on all these cases at the same time, while balancing all other protective services and education into the budget. Thanks to a very slowly recovering economy, that is no small task.

However, some are saying that this situation could be a fantastic opportunity for Brewer and her team. Many people have been saying for a while that CPS is in need of an overhaul, and if Gov. Brewer can roll that together with the tackling of these cases, she could create a legacy that could last for decades.

Gov. Brewer has her work cut out for her, but now that she has focused on the issue, we should start to see resolutions fairly quickly.