Staff Sgt. Shawn Stubbs has a reason to smile after seeing Wednesday's provincial budget. (Submitted photo/Prince Albert Police Service)

By Nigel Maxwell

Public safety

Provincial budget expands ICE unit

Mar 24, 2022 | 2:00 PM

Saskatchewan’s Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit is receiving an upgrade.

Over $200,000 is set aside in the provincial budget to pay for two new investigators — one in Regina and the other in Saskatoon. Staff Sgt. Shawn Stubbs is the ICE coordinator and expressed his gratitude to the government for the added support.

“Our investigators are working with between 80 and 100 files each and our numbers keep going up and it’s get to a point where we just can’t get to every file,” he said, adding the two new investigators will really help the unit get to more files, and also assist other investigators with current ones being worked on.

Over the past four years, the ICE unit has seen file numbers have increased from 321 in 2018 to 853 last year. When asked to explain what he thought was behind the increase, Stubbs said there was not one common trend. He did however note that technology has played a role.

“A lot of video games you can talk to people now. There’s so many different chat rooms and so many different websites you can use to talk with people,” he said.

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While noting most people go online for very good and positive reasons, Stubbs added there’s also nefarious people who will use them to go after children, because they can hide their identity online.

And the issue is goes far beyond the province’s borders. Stubbs explained they’ve assisted with investigations in Australia, the Philipines, India and the United Kingdom. In these cases, the accuser may be hundreds of miles away, but the victim is located in Saskatchewan.

“So it’s totally world wide which is sad but it’s what we have to deal with,” he said.

Stubbs pointed to one example last year where a man in Australia was arrested, and received a five-year sentence for the crimes he committed, targeting children from all over the world.

“That one actually started with a concerned parent who looked at the computer and brought it to the Regina Police Service and then we investigated,” Stubbs said.

The addition of the two new investigators will bring the ICE unit’s total to 15 members. This includes three in Prince Albert, five in Saskatoon, and seven in Regina. The Moose Jaw Police Service also has two people who assist.

With respect to a message for concerned parents, Stubbs explained there’s lots of good online tools including cybertip. He also encouraged parents to talk to their children about online activity and to caution them that not everyone they talk to is who they say they are.

Corrections, Policing and Public Safety Minister Christine Tell told paNOW said the ministry simply responded to what they were being told, noting a number of meetings that were held over the past year.

“We understood there were a lot of cases they weren’t able to look into and we want them to be able to look into as many as possible,” she said.

Tell also noted discussions with the various policing units are always ongoing, and the ministry is constantly looking at ways to improve.

“We have the discussions to ensure that the provincially funded units have the right number of people to serve the people of Saskatchewan,” she said.

nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell