‘You can’t bury your head in the sand’

Child exploitation on rise locally and across the country, Niagara police investigator says

Child exploitation is a serious problem everyone has a responsibility to take action against, says Niagara Regional Police special victims unit’s (SVU) Staff Sgt. Brett Atamanyk.

“You can’t bury your head in the sand,” he said.

It’s a problem that’s on the rise nationally, provincially and locally.

“We’re constantly investigating … we have between 75 and 100 active investigations,” said Atamanyk, adding those came out of an estimated 500 referrals.

He said police, through the SVU and Internet Child Exploitation Unit (ICE), have to prioritize the most prolific offenders and that, at times, information received is “not actionable.”

“Some information is belated, and we can’t get authorization for a warrant. It won’t happen. There needs to be some more recency.

“We’re extremely busy, and it’s very taxing,” said Atamanyk, adding numbers are on the rise.

Provincially, between 2010 and 2022, there’s been a 206 per cent increase in the number of investigations carried out.

A recent provincewide initiative into child exploitation, dubbed Project Maverick, saw 255 investigations wrapped up at the end of October, with 168 search warrants and 428 charges laid against 107 people.

A release from Ontario Provincial Police this week said Project Maverick involved 27 police agencies, including Niagara, and the provincial Attorney General and Solicitor General ministries.

OPP added there are 175 ongoing investigations, and additional charges may be laid.

The various police agencies seized 1,032 devices during the investigation, part of a strategy — underway since 2006 — called the Provincial Strategy to Protect Children from Sexual Abuse and Exploitation on the Internet.

Niagara’s ICE unit is part of the provincial strategy.

OPP said 61 victims were identified and referred to appropriate community-based resources for assistance, while an additional 60 children were safeguarded.

Caught up in that investigation were six Niagara men ranging in age from 31 to 57 years of age, who came from Welland, Port Colborne Niagara Falls, St. Catharines and Grimsby.

They face multiple charges, including: possession of, accessing, and making child pornography, making child pornography available, personation to avoid arrest or prosecution, failing to comply with probation orders, public mischief, incest, sexual interference, voyeurism on a person under 16, and sexual assault on a person under 16.

Atamanyk said Niagara police conducted 16 investigations and wrote labour-intensive search warrants that saw 23 charges.

Additional investigations in Niagara will come stemming from Project Maverick.

Atamanyk said an area that’s seen a 150 per cent increase nationally from December 2021 to May 2022, according to Cybertip.ca, is sextortion, a form of blackmail.

Cybertip is Canada’s tip line for reporting online sexual abuse and exploitation of children.

“It’s when someone is threatened by another person online who they’ve given images to. They’ll ask for more images from females and money from males and say they’ll send the images they have to people you know if you don’t send more.”

Ways to protect your children from sextortion or any form of exploitation include honest conversations and having an open relationship, said Atamanyk.

He said there are clues parents can look for, such as a child now closing their bedroom door when they’ve always left it open, hiding their electronic devices, having their devices out and being in various states of undress.

Sites like Cybertip and the Canadian Centre for Child Protection can help parents.

Atamanyk said parents can’t just leave their children alone with electronic devices making hundreds of contacts they don’t know.

“I have a teenage son, and we go through his account and see how he knows someone. If someone is two or three people removed from someone he knows, we take that person off. You have to stay vigilant.”

‘‘ We’re constantly investigating … we have between 75 and 100 active investigations.

BRETT ATAMANYK NIAGARA REGIONAL POLICE