Police in New Brunswick have found a disturbing number of child abuses cases online. But as predators access images of child pornography in the comfort of their ownhomes, investigators are working hard to figure out where they are, and to catch them.
From Aug. 1, 2011 to Aug. 9, 2012 police detected computer users accessing suspected child abuse images 1,969 times. Greater Moncton accounted for almost 38 per cent of that activity, although it only holds about 18 per cent of the provincial population.
“For us, this is very much of a concern and we want to address it and do what we can to reduce the victimization that may be occurring,” says Codiac RCMP Supt. Marlene Snowman, who presented the statistics to Moncton City Council this week.
Child psychologist Charles Emmrys says the emotional scars left on children who have been abused in such a manner can take a lifetime to heal.
“There are few crimes that are as destructive as this on a child,” says Emmrys. “I am a clinician. I am supposed to work to fix these kids. Boy, that is hard.”
Const. Tonia Williams is a child exploitation investigator whose fulltime job is to catch online users of child sexual abuse images.
Codiac RCMP has added another position to help Williams manage the workload, which she says at times is difficult to even measure.
“There are very many more, numerous more, other networks that are being used to shares these images as well that right now are being unaccounted for,” says Williams.
While having the highest number of Internet users accessing child pornography in the province is likely a distinction Greater Moncton would rather not have, police say they are working with the latest tools and technology to see that those users have no place to hide.
With files from CTV Atlantic's David Bell
