Fight child porn
Date: December 07, 2004Source: CANOE
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The family of slain six-year-old Corinne "Punky" Gustavson wonders why the province refuses to commit to putting some of its projected $4.1-billion budget surplus into stopping child porn predators. The grandma of the little girl - whose body was found in 1992 after she had been sexually assaulted and smothered - wants the Alberta government to spend just a little of the extra cash on a provincewide police unit to combat the problem.
"They should fund it. They've got enough money. I'd like to see the young ones protected," said Jackie Fleurent yesterday, adding she was reminded of Punky's sexual assault and death by a child sex assault court case this week.
Brian Scott Deck, 38, was sentenced this week to 4 1/2 years in prison for luring a 13-year-old autistic girl on the Internet and then having sex with her.
"It just turns my stomach that they can get these kids," said Fleurent. "They should have a department that goes after these bad guys."
Punky's mother, Karen Vallette, is also calling on the province to help the police to start the unit.
"If they have that much money, why not?" said Vallette.
RCMP have said they've made presentations to provincial officials, starting in the spring of 2003, about a provincewide Integrated Child Exploitation team - which would include Mounties and Edmonton city police - to fight child porn.
Edmonton city police have a mini version of a similar unit called the Internet Child Exploitation team, which has two full-time investigators.
The three other members of the team - two more investigators and an analyst - are on loan from other sections of the Edmonton Police Service.
City police Staff Sgt. Darren Eastcott, in charge of the child protection section which includes that ICE team, said he's been encouraged by discussions with the Alberta government about a larger, provincewide version of the team.
Eastcott estimates the cost to run a provincial team would be similar to the already existing Integrated Response to Organized Crime team. "About $3 to 3.5 million a year. That's based on the IROC model," said Eastcott.
Roz Prober, president of Without Borders, a national child-protection lobby group, said Alberta should fund a provincewide unit sooner rather than later.
"I hope it doesn't take a case like Holly Jones to wake up the politicians to the realities of child pornography and child sexual abuse in your own community," said Prober.
Jones was abducted from her Toronto home on May 12, 2003. Her dismembered remains were found in Lake Ontario the next day.
Alberta Solicitor General spokesman David Bray said the idea of a provincewide ICE team is currently being examined by Minister Harvey Cenaiko.
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