Nanaimo Mounties have seen a marked increase in child porn and sex offences against minors. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Ian Holmes

Disturbing crimes

‘It’s extremely busy:’ Nanaimo police fighting rise in child porn cases

Jul 29, 2019 | 2:17 AM

NANAIMO — Specially trained officers tasked with investigating child porn and sex assault cases involving minors in the Nanaimo region have no shortage of work to do.

A series of disturbing files leading to convictions in Nanaimo over the past several months caused widespread public outrage.

Charges are approved in several additional cases involving child porn and sex offences targeting minors, which are advancing through Nanaimo’s court system.

RCMP Cst. Gary O’Brien said their officers assigned to the disturbing cases accepted a much heavier workload.

“We’ve seen the files probably explode 50 per cent in the last five years,” O’Brien told NanaimoNewsNOW. “The issue may have been prevalent, but we weren’t being told about it.”

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O’Brien said their General Investigation Section is tasked with a wide range of open files, and that child porn cases can occupy most of the time in a given month for officers trained to conduct those specific investigations.

So what has led to the increase?

O’Brien said some offenders seem more brazen in their behaviour. He said their investigators keep close watch through a variety of websites and social media platforms.

Increased public tips from people who come across material online, in the workplace or at home is a big factor in advancing child porn investigations locally, he said.

“Our members can only do so much, it’s the public that will further this cause.”

Nanaimo Mounties tasked with child porn investigations work in conjunction with other police departments and the RCMP’s B.C. Integrated Child Exploration Unit based in Vancouver.

O’Brien said “nothing will ever get overlooked” when local Mounties are swamped with child porn investigations, who simply turn to other detachments for support.

The after-effects of sex offences against minors are incredibly damaging and impossible to quantify, O’Brien said.

50-year-old trucker Stephen Castleden was sentenced to 10 years in prison last month after he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a young girl over a five-year period in her Nanaimo home.

Castelden filmed some of the abuse and shared it online.

Cst. O’Brien emphasized these cases have traumatic effects on many people in the community.

“Not only on the victims and their family members, but also the investigators who are tasked with following up with these vivid images that may stay with them for many, many years.”

O’Brien said their investigators are required to undergo critical incident stress debriefings with trained psychologists.

ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes