They know of what they speak and what they told a small Estevan audience on May 19 should have made Estevan and area parents seriously reconsider their family’s use of the Internet and mobile devices from that night forward.
Regina Police Service Staff Sergeant Ron Weir, provincial co-ordinator for the Saskatchewan Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) Unit, was joined by Corporal Corey Patterson as they spoke to about 40 adults in the Estevan Comprehensive School’s Cafetorium last week.
The duo was joined by Constable Peter Froh, who handled details regarding the evening’s PowerPoint presentation that included graphic and statistical examples of why parents needed to get a firmer grip on what their children are doing and receiving online.
The work can be fulfilling, said Weir, especially when they know they’ve made progress on putting away a pedophile and/or online sexual exploiter. But too often, the race to save becomes unbearable, especially when the service providers are unco-operative and brick walls of ignorance are encountered.
Near the end of their presentation, the visiting team of IT and investigative professionals showed how one sexually explicit image of a young person transmitted from Saskatoon reached hundreds of exploitive sites in 21 countries in less than 90 seconds.
The guest presenters were introduced by Estevan Police Chief Paul Ladouceur and were thanked by him and Estevan’s school police resource officer Constable Danielle Stephany.
“Peer pressure is parent pressure,” said Weir. “Parenting isn’t always about saying yes. When it comes to cellphones and iPads the word is no. They can be useful, but think about it. They can’t drink, can’t drive a car, they can’t attend an R-rated movie, yet we’ll let them have something that is much more dangerous. Child exploitation and social media, it’s there.”
Saskatchewan’s ICE came into being in 2009 in response to a rapidly growing world of hurt involving innocent children and teens. There was a need for some enforcement action, even when they knew they were going to come up against major odds.
“There are over 40,000 chat sites we’ve discovered … so far, that are defending sex between children and adults. That’s what we’re up against,” said the sergeant.
Those who view child pornography feel they are merely engaged in a victimless activity, until they are educated about the damages they are inflicting by simply accessing the images, said Patterson.
“I don’t get shocked easily any more, but these images get traded like we used to trade baseball cards, only those who are being abused online are abused forever,” Patterson added, referencing one victim impact statement that affected him emotionally, being a father of pre-teens.
“There are no borders, no boundaries on the Internet. We don’t know if the recipient is in Saskatchewan, Germany or Thailand.” As a result, the ICE is in constant communication with organizations such as Canada Border Services Agency, Interpol, Cybertip.ca and the Canadian Centre for Missing Children.
With 90 per cent of Canadian youngsters now having access to the Internet and 14 million websites depicting sex with children, with 20,000 new images each week, there is a growing frustration on the policing and protection side of this equation.
“Kids with a computer in their bedroom … that’s a no-no,” said Weir. The young girl taking a cellphone into a bathroom, needs to be questioned, he said, suggesting that she may be in the process of being coerced into posting a sexually explicit selfie that she’ll live to regret. The images, the postings are there, forever, and can be accessed by potential bosses when that young person goes out looking for a job 10 years later.
“Half the kids aged 11 to 14 have received at least one unwanted sexual comment online, usually from someone they don’t know,” said Weir.
The two police officers also noted the danger antenna needs to go up on parents if they see their child with hundreds of “friends” on Facebook or other social sites.
“I hate Facebook, it’s dangerous and what you might think is a simple friendly family post, is being used by predators to get more information about you and your kids, your habits, their interests and away they go. Then companies like Facebook are very unco-operative when it comes to investigations,” said Patterson who noted he often goes online, just like the predators, pretending to be an 11 or 14-year-old girl, in an attempt to turn the tables on the exploiters.
Nine-year-olds sending pictures of themselves to unknown recipients, is far too common and very disturbing, said Weir.
“Pedophiles don’t have to leave the comfort of their homes now. That’s why I hate Facebook, I despise it. Kids leave their profile on it and parents let them, and then they hand them a cellphone, like a loaded gun. They just don’t get it. They are naive,” said Patterson.
Predators are constantly trolling websites, and one child, he noted, had 19 social media sites she was engaged in every day. When questioned about her social contacts, Patterson said, “she knew fewer than one-quarter of her 433 so-called friends on these sites.”
That’s why his 10-year-old doesn’t get an iPad, but the family will use an iPod with strict ground rules.
“Kids have to be reminded that once they are exploited, abused on line, it’s forever,” said Weir. That includes the supposed five seconds and gone Snapchats, that became popular. “They don’t disappear like you might think they do. I can catch one and download it in three seconds,” said Patterson. If he can, so can the predators.
Patterson said he almost gets paranoid when he sees his wife using a cellphone. Although he trusts her with it, she uses it “almost every where.” He said over the years he has seen so much of the ugly side of the Internet, it’s difficult not to be over cautious.
The two officers said they conducted 49 presentations on the evils of the Internet and sexual exploitations last year alone and gear them for their audiences. Patterson said his talk with a Grade 4 class revealed to him that if he let them do the talking he learned what they were doing online, then he would simply ask them, “do you think that was safe?
“Just be cognizant of what they’re doing online at age nine and 10,” Patterson told the parents. Predators can groom a young person in that age group within 24 hours. It might take a little longer for the 16 or 17-year-old.
Sites such as Kik also came in for some fierce scrutiny by the two professional law enforcers. They added Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Skype are all operated out of Canada, so it’s difficult to get any co-operation out of them. Other chat sites such as Wickr Tinder, Minecraft are also unfriendly toward investigations.
When the kids get a little older, some are inclined toward self exploitation, or self pornography and there have been some recent tragic examples of those outcomes that have sometimes led to suicides.
“The boyfriend and girlfriend exchange photos, then two months later they split and the picture gets out there and they want them back. Well, they can’t get them back, and they can’t make them give it back and it can be checked out when you make that job application just like a criminal investigation check is made,” said Weir.
Children from poverty-stricken countries are often exploited and sites as innocent-appearing as Craigslist are also home to the trolling predators who sometimes place their own ads with some pretty explicit requests.
“Don’t let your kid spend too much time alone in a room with a computer or device. It’s not healthy. Make them go outside and enjoy some play time, not device time,” said Weir.
“If you know what your kid is doing online at age 10 and you stay interested, then you’ll know more when they’re 17 or 18. Put the device on the counter and plug it in. Don’t let them take it into their bedroom and spend hours alone with it and don’t punish them if they’re truthful when explaining to you what they are doing online. Work with them,” said Weir.
Training packages are going out to schools and students all the time now and Const. Stephany said in Estevan the problem has surfaced for certain, and this city wasn’t any different in terms of exploitation efforts from undesirable elements. “The sexting and exploiting that goes on now, it floored me,” she said. “We have to get the knowledge out there before there are more victims.”
