Cops target kiddie porn
Source: The Edmonton SUN
By Ajay Bhardwaj and Kim Bradley
Date: May 25, 2003
National strategy will centralize information from child pornography complaints
A national strategy to fight kiddie porn is just a week away after demands from some of the country's top cops.
In Edmonton, city police say although details of the RCMP-run unit are still under wraps, it will be one more resource officers can rely on to combat the spiralling problem.
"The growth on the Internet is incredible," said Edmonton Det. Wil Tonowski, who works with high-risk offenders. "We need to team up (with other police agencies)."
Details of the strategy will come six months after the OPP and Toronto Police Chief Julian Fantino called on the federal government for action. "Hopefully something good will come of this and not just a bunch of rhetoric," said Fantino.
OPP deputy Commissioner Vaughan Collins and RCMP Chief Supt. Kevin Vickers said a steering committee was set up after the calls for a national strategy were heard in Ottawa.
The committee has worked to develop a strategy that will centralize complaints coming in about child porn. In January, federal Solicitor General Wayne Easter said funding for the national strategy would come out of the existing RCMP budget, but more money could be made available.
"We have to throw more resources at it," said Tonowski, adding there's a "prolific" amount of child pornography on the Internet.
"It's a moving target all the time."
He said people surfing the Internet can innocently get caught on a child porn site. And pedophiles even run a site that provides tips on molesting children and getting away with it, he added.
Joining forces with police forces across the country will will ensure cops catch up with even more people who run kiddie porn sites. "There's a good chance they'll be caught," said Tonowski.
One federally funded pilot project that has been quietly operating for about six months is cybertips.ca - an online reporting centre for child pornography similar to the highly successful cybertips.com project in the U.S.
"Without any marketing, we've received 212 tips, had two arrests already in Manitoba and shut down 44 Web sites," said Lianna MacDonald, executive director of Child
Find Manitoba which runs cybertips.ca.
Original article: http://www.canoe.ca/EdmontonNews/es.es-05-25-0014.html
^macro[showdigestcomments;^uri[];Cops target kiddie porn]