N.W.T. RCMP to form anti-online child sexual exploitation unit

RCMP are expanding their ability to investigate online child sexual exploitation in the Northwest Territories, which they say has seen a marked increase.

A new three-member Internet Child Exploitation team (ICE) will be established this year, following a $429,000 funding announcement from the territorial government this week.

"We had seen an increase in this type of activity throughout the North," said Staff Sgt. Bruce McGregor.

"As you can imagine, they're very complex investigations and ... quite often we have to go outside the divisions for expertise in the technology area, in terms of analyzing devices."

The ICEteam will include two RCMP investigators based in Yellowknife and one civilian computer analyst, whose location has yet to be finalized.

Changing social media environment

McGregor wasn't able to say by how much investigations into online predation haveincreased in the territory, but he said it's been noticeable.

"The increased use of social media in the communities, online texting, opening up of the bandwidth in communities is just creating that social media environment [and] it's creating that environment for increased online sexual exploitation."

Online exploitation is also increasing across the whole country, says Marie-ve Duperr with the territorial government's Justice Department.

"G Division has historically relied on expertise available within the RCMP in southern jurisdictions for assistance in investigating cases of child pornography in the N.W.T.," she said.

"Due to the growth nationally assistance from other jurisdictions can no longer be provided on the same basis."

Public outreach

Along with investigations, the new unit will be doing public outreach and education, says McGregor.

"The biggest message to get out to young people is just to be aware that what they post online and what they say online, it's there and they've got to be extremely careful about who they're sending things to or who they're talking to."

The federal government has agreed to kick in a further 30 per cent of the unit's funding, says Duperr.