MOOSE JAW — For years, the Saskatchewan government has rejected the Moose Jaw Police Service’s requests to join the provincial Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) Unit, but the departure of certain government bureaucrats could open that door.
In a conversation about Moose Jaw’s ICE team, Chief Rick Bourassa told police commissioners during their Oct. 9 meeting that certain “personalities” in the Ministry of Policing and Corrections — namely, the deputy minister and assistant deputy minister — have been barriers to the police service joining the provincial ICE Unit.
However, those bureaucrats are gone and new people have stepped in, so he has been speaking with them and hopes those conversations bear fruit.
“And I believe (we can arrive there). But right now, we’re in a pretty good position,” Bourassa remarked. “We work closely with the ICE Unit and we have access to their resources. But … it could become more effective if we were actually embedded in the unit.”
While having an ICE investigator on the provincial unit would mean a greater ability to access those resources, it would also mean that that investigator focuses on other communities, the chief said.
Bourassa said he hoped his conversations led to Moose Jaw’s two ICE investigator positions being converted to full-time. The agency also hopes that one or more of its eight new provincially funded officers could be made ICE members.
The agency would have to build “an appropriate workspace” for a full-time ICE Unit that puts staff in the best possible work environment and that also supports their mental health, the chief added. The police service would likely construct such space potentially next year.
ICE explanation
Sgt. Josh MacNaughton explained that it usually takes 113 days to 160 days for investigators to resolve one file, although sometimes it takes them one-third of a year to investigate a situation and then 18 months total before they lay charges.
MacNaughton summarized how a “reactive investigation” unfolds:
- Officers learn of a situation after receiving a complaint
- They send a “jurisdictional” request to an internet service provider seeking information (one to seven days)
- Investigators create a production order to acquire further data from the provider (seven to 30 days)
- After receiving information about the alleged suspect, they surveil the person’s residence (one to seven days); sometimes officers have the name and computer IP address, while other times it’s not so “cut and dry who the bad guy is,” which is why investigations are “long and intensive”
- After determining who the suspect is, investigators write and perform a search warrant on the residence (three to five days)
- Police seize all electronic devices and take them to a digital forensic services agency (three months)
- It takes seven to 14 days for the agency to categorize the pictures, which could number in the hundred-thousands to the millions
- Police issue an arrest warrant, lay charges and interview the alleged suspect (one to two days)
- It then takes officers three to five days to provide the Crown with all the disclosure (evidence), while the suspect is either kept in jail or released on bail
MacNaughton said one file he investigated had 1.7 million images, while another file he handled had 1,400 pages that he provided the Crown via a PDF. Meanwhile, he said child pornography — or child exploitation materials — is any images or written materials depicting, showing sensitive areas of, or describing the sexual assault of youths under 18.
By the numbers
The Saskatchewan ICE Unit handled 307 files in 2017, while last year that number was 1,029, said MacNaughton. In Moose Jaw, this year, the unit has resolved 24 files, executed two search warrants, created eight production orders, identified three victims and charged one person. It also has six active investigations.
Helping to stop the abuse of three children is a great feeling, although not every file leads to a charge since investigators may discover that the IP addresses don’t match or the suspect has moved, said MacNaughton.
One hurdle ICE officers face is having limited time to investigate situations because they are not a specialized, full-time unit and must handle other issues, he continued.
The unit also has limited access to specialized software and must drive to Regina to use it there, while purchasing it is cost prohibitive because annual licensing fees are $10,000 to $20,000, MacNaughton said. Further, it can be difficult for ICE members to stay current on investigative techniques since their attention is focused on other crimes.
The solution is to appoint a full-time ICE investigator and join the provincial ICE Unit, he added.
