West Shore RCMP reported there are currently 17 ongoing child porn investigations in the West Shore, with 12 of them taking place in Langford.
The investigations, according to West Shore RCMP Cst. Nancy Saggar, have been going on for just over a year since Jan. 2018 and involve varying offences in the child porn category.
Saggar said most of the offences are possession charges and some are distribution charges.
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However, Saggar said she does not believe the number of investigations are abnormal and that the public should not be worried for their safety. She said the first thing investigators look at is whether or not anyone is at risk or will potentially be at risk. Once public safety is determined, the rest of the investigation follows.
B次元官网网址淲e donB次元官网网址檛 think weB次元官网网址檙e different than any other jurisdiction for the amount of investigations we have per capita that involve child porn,B次元官网网址� Saggar said. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 very important to recognize there isnB次元官网网址檛 an increased amount of potential offenders living in our area compared to others.B次元官网网址�
The investigations are rolling over into 2019 because they take a fair amount of time to complete, according to Saggar. She said RCMP officers have to obtain different warrants to be able to search peopleB次元官网网址檚 homes and computers or storage devices. Sometimes, Saggar said, surveillance needs to be conducted in order to get grounds for a search warrant.
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According to Saggar, some of the investigations have already gone to court and are waiting on sentencing while others are just getting started.
Saggar noted that 17 investigations does not mean police are investigating 17 different people. She also said they occured over a period of one year and not within a short period of time. Saggar was not able to say how many people are being investigated.
shalu.mehta@goldstreamgazette.com
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