Last week I had the opportunity to spend some time with, and to learn about the work of, an extraordinary group of police officers dedicated to helping children. The Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit of the Winnipeg Police Service gave me the opportunity to see how they go about catching and getting evidence for convictions on those individuals who prey on children over the Internet.
Housed in a corner of the Public Safety Building in downtown Winnipeg, the ICE unit is comprised of not much more than a handful of police officers and computer technicians who use a variety of methods to catch child predators who are luring children or trading pornographic images of children.
Sgt. John Siderius leads the ICE unit members in doing some of the most challenging but important police work imaginable. Surprisingly, finding individuals who are engaged in possessing and sharing graphic images of children is not difficult. Through common software programs, police can identify likely suspects who are making available images that exploit children. A simple search elicited a seemingly endless number of likely predators in Canada and around the world.
Officers who spend time in chat rooms searching for potential predators don’t have to do much more than log on and provide a profile that predators would find of interest before numerous contacts are made.
One of the most frustrating parts of the job for members of the ICE unit is that, despite being able to readily identify potential child predators, it is difficult for them with the resources they have to scratch the surface of this horrific crime. The seizure of a computer of a suspected predator sets off weeks of work by technicians who have to categorize the images found. Officers then have to examine the photos in the process of coordinating evidence for a prosecution.
It is much more time consuming work than many would expect and exposes ICE unit officers, many with children themselves, to reprehensible photos of child exploitation. While the work of this unit is incredibly important, it understandably takes an emotional and psychological toll on those who work in it. While software programs help to reduce the number of child pornography photos officers are exposed to, it can never eliminate it.
The individuals who make up the ICE unit do their work in relative anonymity. But they can be the difference for a child between growing up being exploited or growing up in a safe environment. While every day they are confronted through their work with some of the worst crimes imaginable, their willingness to do the job demonstrates the dedication of our police officers to keeping everyone in our community, young and old, safe.
