The federal government has approved millions in funding for B.C. police units that combat online child exploitation, including one in the Capital Region.
Public Safety Canada has provided $3.5 million over three years to B.C. Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) units.
Officers from the Victoria, Oak Bay, Saanich and Central Saanich police agencies formed an ICE unit for a six-month pilot that began in 2021. The team, which continued to work together but no longer had a shared workspace after the pilot ended, recently was approved funding to re-establish itself as an integrated unit.
Central Saanich Police Service's Deputy Chief Kevin Hackett said the funding will allow the regional team to protect children from predators who exploit and harm them.
"Our collaborative, coordinated and integrated approach proved to be successful in our previous pilot project, and we are confident this new funding will help us to further build on those successes," Hackett said in an Aug. 24 news release announcing the funding for several B.C. ICE units.
In a July letter the local mayors, Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth noted the CRD unit had conducted 36 ICE investigations between December 2023 and March of this year. His letter said the six-person CRD team has been approved annual funding of around $650,000 for next three fiscal years from the federal Contribution Program to Combat Serious and Organized Crime.
The province said reported incidents of onine exploitation rose significantly during the pandemic and that trend has continued. B.C. ICE units opened more than 28,000 investigations into files dealing with child luring, grooming and sexual exploitation between 2020 and 2023.
"Online child exploitation happens every single day, and as social media platforms continue to grow, we must ensure our children are protected from those trying to hurt them. That’s why we continue to work with the federal government to equip police with the necessary tools to support units tasked with the very difficult job of investigating these horrendous crimes," Farnworth said in the news release.
The province added the federal funding will enable municipal police departments to increase the training and capacity of officers conducting ICE investigations.
