The number of cases being investigated by the Greater Sudbury Police Service’s cyber crime unit is climbing on an annual basis, but so is the number of arrests being made, said the unit’s top cop.
Det.-Sgt. Tim Burtt said as technology continues to grow by leaps and bounds, the world continues to shrink. It’s difficult to police a crime that literally has no bounds, but officers of the cyber crime unit are working with counterparts across the globe to put offenders behind bars.
Child pornography and luring were hidden crimes in the past, requiring people to be very discreet in their actions, Burtt said. Now, those same people can sit at home behind a locked door and download videos and images with the click of a mouse.
That is one of the major factors behind the increase in cyber crime cases, Burtt said. Last year, 213 cases came through the cyber crime unit, which was up from the 144 cases in 2009. As of the end of September of this year, the number of cases was at about 200, and it is estimated that number will reach about 260 or 270 by the end of the year.
“This has been a steady year for us,” Burtt said, and added calls can range from analyzing a phone call to going online to gather information to investigating a sexual assault. “It’s non-stop, and it’s amazing this has become such a big thing, but it’s not surprising given the fact technology has become such a major part of our everyday lives,”
A provincial strategy was launched in 2009 to protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation on the Internet. It is that strategy that is helping to increase the number of cases being solved by cyber crime units across Ontario and all of Canada, Burtt said.
It’s the worst job in the world, but it’s the best job in the world.
Det.-Const. Sue Leys
“I had been investigating these crimes for about four years prior to the provincial strategy, but everyone had their own unit, and communication between those units was lacking,” he said. “In the U.S., there are Internet Crimes Against Children units across the entire country, and they work hand-in-hand in their investigations to identify the people committing those crimes.
“Since the provincial strategy was launched, we’ve been watching our numbers climb, and because of our unified effort, we’ve been better able to go out and identify offenders and rescue children.”
The cyber crime unit was established in January 2006 with Burtt being the lone officer. The unit was expanded at the end of that year with another officer, and a third officer was added to the unit in 2007. Two years later, a fourth officer joined the ranks, and the unit is currently made up of five officers. The unit was started in response to the need for a unified effort to identify those who perpetrate crimes against the most vulnerable part of society – children, Burtt said.
“When I started these investigations in 2002, there were a few here and there, but technology has exploded,” he said. “When I did my first computer forensic case, the hard drive in that computer was two gigabytes. Now, they just came out with a three-terabyte hard drive. When we execute a search warrant and seizure, we can walk out with eight terabytes of storage.”
The Internet was created to be a positive thing, to act as a communication tool and to put educational information at a person’s fingertips, Burtt said. Unfortunately, in society, there are too many people who are going to take something good and turn it bad.
Sudbury isn’t any higher or lower in terms of the number of cases investigated in other cities across the province, but because it’s a smaller city, when officers make an arrest of this nature, people take notice, Burtt said.
“People like to think this doesn’t happen in their town. The truth is, it can happen anywhere.”
Better technology, investigative techniques and co-operation from everyone, including the public, which is more educated on what’s happening in their community, means the unit is better equipped to find offenders.
“The crime has always been there, but we’re just taking aim at it, and if people are committing these crimes, we’re going to get them. In many instances, these are very young children (being exploited) who have no way of protecting themselves.
“We learn something new every day, because technology changes on a daily basis,” Burtt said. “New phones come out all the time, and we have to know what each phone is capable of doing. The training is non-stop.”
Investigations include identifying how the information got onto storage devices or computers, who put it there, and who the offender is, but what most people don’t see after the fact is the unit has in place one officer who is dedicated to identify the children in these images.
“It’s a tough job, but it can be rewarding,” Burtt said. “This officer works with counterparts provincially, nationally and internationally to identify the children in these images, and they do everything they can to do that.”
Unfortunately, a very low percentage of children are actually identified, he said, but it is rewarding when it happens because it means this officer was able to get a child out of that situation.
“It’s the worst job in the world, but it’s the best job on the world,” Det.-Const. Sue Leys, who is the officer on whose shoulders rests the responsibility of sorting through countless images, said. Victims range in age from infants to 17 years of age.
The rest of the Greater Sudbury Police Service is also being trained to understand how to conduct a front-line response to technological-based crimes and to help investigate, Burtt said. Five officers aren’t able to efficiently handle the increasing number of cases.
Posted by Heather Green-Oliver
