Kelowna, BC – Last week, the Kelowna RCMP ICE Unit executed a search warrant at a home within the city in regard to a Possession of Child Pornography investigation. One individual was taken into custody and was later released without charges pending a forensic search of the devices seized.
An outcome of the pandemic is an unprecedented increase in the online sexual abuse and exploitation of children. The Canadian Centre for Child Protection has reported national increases in accessing and possessing child pornography in the past 3 threes.
Kelowna has not been spared and the local RCMP have also seen an increase in this type of criminal activity. As a result of the growing prevalence of these cases the Kelowna RCMP, created a dedicated investigative team of police officers called the Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) Unit, to identify, pursue, and disrupt offenders of these crimes. This is the second dedicated detachment-based Unit of its kind within the BC RCMP. Until recently, in Kelowna the Frontline and General Investigation officers conducted these investigations in concert with the BC Integrated Child Exploitation Unit (BC ICE).
“This newly created team of specially trained investigators works with BC ICE to investigate all aspects of these crimes. With the growing demand for online material that sexually exploits children, the Kelowna ICE Unit’s goals are to ensure children are note being actively offended against, identify and remove images from the internet, and successfully prosecute those who access, produce, and traffic in this material,” says Cpl James Jenkins, Kelowna ICE Unit.
If you have information about child sexual exploitation, visit www.cybertip.ca or call Kelowna RCMP at 250-762-3300.
File # 2022-70492
Kelowna RCMP
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