Vancouver police and community partners unveiled a multi-media campaign Friday aimed at stopping child predators from soliciting children and youth online.
The strategy crafted by Children of the Street Society involves print and TV ads, posters and website www.predatorwatch.ca.
All media platforms are used inform potential pedophiles that investigators are online posing as children in an attempt arrest them.
“The Internet has become a place where pedophiles, emboldened by the Internet, groom and lure children to participate in sexual activity over the Internet or worse, in person,” said Sgt. Tony Cavezza in charge of the Sex Crimes Unit.
The Ministries of Children and Family Development, and Public Safety contributed a combined $45,000 to the ad campaign.
Minister Mary Polak said the province must remain vigilant in the fight against child and youth sexual exploitation.
“What strikes me to the core is the very young age of these children as they are forced, brought into, this horrible, horrible circumstance," she said. "How they can so easily be trapped in this kind of a world and in spite of repeated attempts they can remain trapped.”
Statistics provided by Polak show 13 is the average age that children reported being exploited through the sex trade and average number of attempts to leave or escape sex trade is seven.
Of the eight member Vancouver police sex crimes unit two officers are assigned to patrol the internet for predators full time.
Officers investigated 20 sex crimes cases involving minors last year. Crown Counself approved charges in seven of the cases of which four have been concluded for lack of evidence and the remaining cases are active.
Sgt Cavezza said the campaign would help stop child predators from going on online
"There are those out there who are thinking about doing it and hopefully with this campaign we’ll make it quite apparent that there is police actively looking for them,” he said.
