‘Exploding’ cybercrime taxes police
Sheer volume, greater complexity stretches resources, chief says
As police grapple with the growing problem of cyberbullying, they are “overwhelmed” by the quantity and complexity of computer-related crime, says the head of the Alberta Association of Chiefs of Police.
Edmonton police Chief Rod Knecht said law enforcement agencies need more resources from government to deal with crimes that relate to the Internet — everything from cyberbullying and online child exploitation to the use of the Internet to facilitate theft and assault.
“We are overwhelmed,” he said in an interview Friday. “You just see the crime that is facilitated through technology and the Internet is exploding for us and we need to catch up.”
The issue of cyberbullying has sparked a national debate after a series of high-profile cases, including the suicide of B.C. teen Amanda Todd last fall after years of online harassment.
Just this week, Nova Scotia put into force its new Cyber Safety Act and child pornography charges were laid against two males in relation to the case of Rehtaeh Parsons, who killed herself earlier this year after what her family says were months of cyberbullying following a sexual assault.
Knecht said he’s interested in the Nova Scotia law — which allows individuals bullied online to sue or seek a protection order against those responsible — but acknowledges that cracking down on the problem puts a strain on resources.
“We have to go online and we have to retrieve all the emails and maybe the Facebook page, and we need a warrant to do that,” he said.
“A bullying investigation 20 years ago took, I would say, anywhere from a half-hour to an hour. A bullying investigation today for the police is, I’m going to say, probably 30 hours of investigation minimum. That whole dynamic has changed.”
Police have made child exploitation a priority when it comes to cybercrime. In the year ending March 31, 2012, the joint Integrated Child Exploitation (ICE) unit — which covers computer crimes relating to child pornography, luring, voyeurism and the child sex trade — investigated 484 new cases and charged 125 people.
That was up from 449 cases and 76 people charged the year before.
“There’s a group that are just hopelessly overworked,” Knecht said.
Dave Radmanovich, the acting staff sergeant in charge of the ICE unit covering the northern half of the province, said officers are trying to keep up with the sheer volume of offenders, the worldwide nature of the distribution networks and the constant upgrading of technology by those looking to avoid the law.
Earlier this week, the ICE unit arrested a 42-year-old Airdrie man accused of convincing a nine-year-old American girl to make sexually-explicit videos.
Knecht said policing is undergoing one of the biggest transitions it has ever seen because of technology.
Police services can’t reduce the number of officers on the street, but require more people working behind computers, he said. And while personnel are needed with specialized technical skills, beat officers must be comfortable with computers as part of their job, Knecht said.
Alberta Justice Minister Jonathan Denis said the province funds the ICE unit as part of its $32-million Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT) program.
“We’re going to continue to fund that to try to stay on top, ahead of the curve,” he said. “It is very difficult because of how quickly it seems to change.”
While the overall justice department budget was cut this year, Denis said direct funding for police was up.
Kelly Sundberg, chair of the justice studies department at Mount Royal University, said senior levels of government must ensure police have the capital resources needed to deal with the problem.
“The tools that exist for the most part are expensive, are somewhat complicated to use and the police just don’t have the budget or the technical people to embrace the technologies that are emerging to help tackle this problem.
“It’s an ominous challenge for police departments.”