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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Friday May 9, 2008 - 3 Child pornography has proliferated on the Internet Continued from page 1 "When you think about child pornography what you really have to think about is images of child sexual abuse. Having sex with them or touching them inappropriately or simulating a sexual act." Goldschmidt noted that the children involved in these gruesome videos are getting younger all the time and now even include infants. To obtain these victims, the child pornographer often goes no farther than their own home using their own child, niece or nephew. Other child pornographers go out in search of children. "You get a lot of pedophiles that target single women with children for the purposes of getting hold of the children," said Goldschmidt. "A lot of pedophiles will travel to other countries in the world. In some places you can literally pay $25 and have access to a child for a whole weekend." As the acts committed against children are so horrible one would expect nothing short of an absolute monster to be behind the production of child pornography, however, police noted that the people who make, distribute and watch child pornography do not fall into any particular category and, most disturbingly, can be just about anyone. "They come from every walk of life," said Detective Sergeant Grant DAVID LEA / OAKVILLE BEAVER STANDING ON GUARD: Detective Constable Tracey Peters and Detective Constable Patrick Overholt of the Halton Police Internet Child Exploitation Unit. Wilkinson, of Halton Regional Police Service's Child Abuse and Sexual Assault (CASA) Unit. "They can be teenagers, businessmen, well-respected people." The number of people involved in such enterprises is also growing with around 2,500 incidents of child pornography investigated across the province in the last fiscal year. Halton, too, is seeing a disturbing increase in the level of child pornography present throughout the region. "In 2007 we had 120 investigations, 19 criminal charges were laid and more than 12,000 images of child pornography were seized," said Detective Constable Tracey Peters of Halton's ICE unit. "In 2008, to date, we've got 59 new criminal investigations, 10 criminal charges have been laid and we've seized more than 7,500 images of child sexual abuse." Goldschmidt noted the invention of the Internet has given many child pornography enthusiasts a sense of security they did not have when VHS cassettes containing the sordid imagery had to be exchanged in person. Times have changed. "When I did cases in an undercover capacity, it would take six months to gain the trust of somebody before they would give you something," said Goldschmidt. "Now, with computers and the Internet people feel this sense of anonymity because they're talking terminal to terminal. It gives people who are like fence sitters the opportunity to sit in the comfort of their own home, take a look at this stuff and decide whether they want to pursue it or not." With the change in the delivery system for child pornography, police have had to adapt the methods they use to combat it. Police learn of incidents of child pornography through a variety of investigative techniques, as well as from other national and international law enforcement groups, complaints and Crime Stopper tips. Information on potential targets trickle down to the local level where groups like the Halton ICE Unit investigate them. Once the warrant has been issued and the raid executed, computer experts examine the suspect's computer to determine what is on it and who has been accessing it. If images of child pornography are found, the person in possession of them can face a mandatory minimum of 14 days in jail. If the person is found to have distributed the images, they could receive 90 days in jail, while a person responsible for actually making child pornography could face a year in jail on top of the time they receive for the child sexual abuse committed in the videos themselves. Identifying the victims present in child pornography videos is also a high priority and police scrutinize every detail in the background of the videos to try to determine who the child is and where they are. Bearing daily witness to the grotesque acts that take place in child pornography is no easy task and special safety measures have been put in place to ensure the mental wellbeing of the officers required to view it. "We check in with a psychiatrist at CMHC (Community Mental Health Centre) in Toronto every six months or once a year to make sure everything is status quo with us," said Peters. "Also, you don't generally have just one (ICE) investigator. 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