On the note of future witnesses, I've been a police officer for 17 years now, and I've only been doing this for a year. I've worked in serious crime my entire career. I had no idea, no concept, of how bad it is and how many predators were out there wanting young children or young teens--no concept.
When you're talking to future witnesses, I would ask that you ensure they have done their homework, and that they're not talking from an emotional or “this affects me, so therefore it's bad” type of view. This is for the greater good of our children.
I'll tell you that there's one group that is very interested in this debate and is hoping that you don't change the age of protection. I would ask you to keep that in mind as well.