By Patti Brooks
The Chronicle-Herald
November 2, 2009
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Metro/1150756.html
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| RCMP Insp. Wayne Jacquard, forefront, is responsible for the force’s Internet child exploitation unit in Nova Scotia. Photo by Andrew Vaughan / CP |
PEOPLE WERE shocked when child pornography charges were laid against Catholic Bishop Raymond Lahey.
As Bishop Lahey’s case returns to Ottawa court this week, The Chronicle Herald sat down with RCMP Insp. Wayne Jacquard to discuss what police are doing to protect children and combat this problem.
Insp. Jacquard is responsible for the force’s Internet child exploitation unit in Nova Scotia.
The ICE unit has four full-time officers who work with the Mounties’ regional technological crime unit and police across the province, the country and the world.
Its main focus is on sections under the Criminal Code related to child pornography, including the production of images of people depicted as under 18, distribution, possession and the accessing of those images.
They also investigate luring of minors.
Insp. Jacquard credits his team, the technology and a strategic approach — homing in on IP addresses with a lot of trading — for a conviction rate of just under 100 per cent. The Nova Scotia unit has only had one stay of proceedings since it was formed in 2003, he said.
Q: How prevalent is it here in Nova Scotia, the viewing and the trading of child pornography on the Internet?
A: When I asked for numbers in the last 30 days, (in) this province alone, I can tell you that there’s been in excess of 1,000 unique IP addresses that have been actively trading in what we would deem to be child pornography in this province.
Q: Internet child exploitation, how does it differ from traditional child exploitation or is this just another means to do the exact same thing?
A: Really it is. In the olden days, when we talked about child pornography or exploitation of children on film or images, it was normally someone who would acquire it by travelling to a foreign country and purchasing a film or purchasing images, mail-order catalogues. It was usually in person or it was something received through the mail.
Now, with the Internet, we’ve dropped all those barriers. A person can now go on the Internet . . . and either acquire by joining a particular club or website and purchasing material. They can subscribe to different sites. Peer-to-peer is becoming a very, very rich area for the exchange of child sexual abuse (images).
Q: What parents want to ask is, ‘What is wrong with people?’
A: It’s a behaviour. Some people refer to it as an illness. We refer to it as a behaviour. There’s a behaviour to acquire or the need — there’s that sense. The literature and the training tells us that once you get to that point, those images, for the collector, then become a fantasy. When those images are no longer sufficient to attain the fantasy, then they have to migrate to the contact.
Q: How are criminals changing their tactics in light of the police response?
A: We, as police, . . . are all guided by the Criminal Code of Canada. Therefore, our rules are set for us. Of course, for those on the other side of the law and those who break the law, they have no rules. Therefore, they are always trying to manipulate systems, develop new programs. And in this day and age of technology, the challenges that we face are, for the most part, the technological ones — trying to get through the firewalls, trying to get through the Internet.
Q: What would you like to see in terms of resources?
A: I know that we have the support of the provincial government when it comes to these investigations. We have committed to working on issues, to bring this down as best as we can with the resources that we have and we will continue to do that.
As far as a wish list, it would be difficult to speculate because enough is never really enough.
Contact: pbrooks@herald.ca
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