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‘Check your kids’ phones’: Police urge vigilance as West Shore child porn cases double

Numbers climbing nationally, risk grows as more people spend more time online
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West Shore RCMP detachment vehicles are seen behind the detachment in Langford March 29, 2022. (Black Press Media file photo)

Population growth and more time spent online are fuelling a rise in child pornography, as the number of investigations has gone up on the West Shore.

Child pornography investigations undertaken by West Shore RCMP doubled last year compared to 2021, jumping to 39 from 19 in the previous year.

The police force said the possession, distribution and production of child pornography represent the majority of cases handled by its serious crime unit – a department that also investigates attempted murder, aggravated assault and firearms-related offences.

“Nobody wants to believe that these types of crimes are happening in their community. But the reality is, they are. Traditionally, it’s been very hard and even now, it’s very hard to report these types of crimes - you don’t see a lot of police agencies talking about this openly.”

Saggar said publication bans make cases tricky to discuss, noting they have an important role, but it means the issue doesn’t get discussed enough.

READ MORE: Child pornography investigations double on the West Shore

Nationally, cases are also up. Police-reported incidents of online child sexual exploitation increased from 50 incidents per 100,000 population in 2014 – the first year national cybercrime data was collected – to 131 per 100,000 in 2020, according to Statistics Canada.

As with most sexual offences, most incidents also go underreported, and that’s even more likely when it involves children, according to a report published in May 2022 by Dyna Ibrahim, an analyst with Statistics Canada.

Locally, Saggar said the growth in the number of cases may be in part fuelled by the fact that there are more people in the West Shore.

Langford is the fastest-growing municipality in B.C. with at least 5,000 inhabitants, and the third fastest-growing in Canada, when comparing 2021 census data with 2016. Colwood and View Royal are also growing faster than the average throughout Greater Victoria.

The pandemic also pushed people to spend more time online, particularly in the early days when virtual learning was commonplace. More time online means more risks of being exploited and abused, according to a 2017 UNICEF report.

The proliferation of mobile phones and social media, as well as technology improving and making it easier for predators to reach out to children anonymously, all add to the risk, according to Ibrahim.

People trying to lure children will employ a number of strategies, mostly using private messages, says Saggar. One common tactic has been dubbed “love-bombing” by police.

“They really feed your ego, get on your good side, build up your confidence, and then they start asking you for things like photos,” said Saggar. “Then when you don’t give them one, or maybe you’ve sent one and you don’t give another one, well then now they’re starting to extort you. They’re threatening to release the photo to your friends and your family and your schoolmates unless you give them more.”

Most of the instances on the West Shore involved luring, although crimes can take place between youth themselves. Sexting (sending explicit photos to someone) when the person in the photo is under the age of 18 is a crime – even if it’s consensual between minors who are both under the age of 18 or the sender is taking a photo of themselves, says Saggar.

To prevent exploitation, parents should be involved, she added.

“Check your kids’ phones regularly. Your kids are not adults yet. So you have the right as a parent to get in that phone and check it and see what’s going on in their account.”

“It’s really important to sit down, have those conversations, build the trust with your kids,” she added. “But then also from time to time check in on those platforms that your children are on and see what they’re actually doing on them, especially in the private chat section.”

Saggar said if the rate of growth in cases continues, the detachment will need more officers to investigate. She said the work is time intensive and complicated, on average taking at least a year to investigate. Only senior officers can work the cases, as the work requires extra training courses and digging through massive amounts of data to find the incriminating image or video and be able to build a case.

Out of the 39 cases the West Shore RCMP started investigating in 2022, 25 remain open.

West Shore RCMP’s detachment is moving towards expansion, with Langford, Colwood and View Royal all giving the green light for funding the design phase for a new detachment building.

During a City of Colwood council meeting on Jan. 23, West Shore RCMP Supt. Todd Preston noted the marked increase in the number of child pornography incidents. Part of the impetus behind the proposed new $82-million West Shore detachment building was to make room for specialized staff to tackle the issue.

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