CALGARY, AB – A massive, Alberta-wide crackdown on online child sexual exploitation has resulted in 60 charges being laid against 24 suspects.
The ALERT Internet Child Exploitation unit says it’s been collaborating with its policing partners to work through a record number of case referrals.
The ICE unit recorded a 40% increase in cases last year alone with a total of over 2,100 intakes.
These latest arrests happened between January 1st and March 31st including two men from Medicine Hat, one from Fort Macleod and one from Okotoks.
Police say there’s no definitive link between any of the 24 suspects.
ALERT says it’s received a boost in provincial funding lately, too which it’s using to add more investigators, forensic technicians, analysts and disclosure clerks as well as some new technology.
The agency’s CEO, Supt. Dwayne Lakusta, says with more tools and resources ALERT is “prepared to travel to every corner of the province in order to stop child sex predators.”