By Troy Gillard and Josh Hall

ANNUAL REPORT

ALERT seeing more child exploitation, drug cases during pandemic

Nov 2, 2020 | 3:19 PM

The Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) is working through the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic like everyone else.

CEO Dwayne Lakusta says that among other things, the pandemic has caused a disturbing rise in files for their Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit.

“We predicted this trend with more kids being at home and online, not going out like they typically would. A large percentage of the world was also working at home, so we saw predatory activity increase,” he explained. “Our numbers have nearly doubled this year when it comes to ICE files, which is concerning because it impacts some of our most vulnerable, which is our kids.”

In March 2020 alone, the ICE Unit took in 243 online child exploitation files — more than double the unit’s monthly average of 110 over the previous two years. That upward trend continued in April and May as Albertans were encouraged to stay home to stop the spread of COVID-19.

In 2019/20, the ICE unit recovered more than 976,000 photos or videos related to child pornography, nearly three times what it retrieved the year previous.

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Lakusta is clear that there is no blame on kids or parents for the sharp rise in cases.

“We just need to make sure parents are having open conversations with their kids that there are bad people out there, bad people that may try to prey on you through the internet,” he says. “Parents need to be mindful that they are monitoring the activity of their kids online.”

Meantime, the price of drugs continues to be higher than it was pre-pandemic, and supply stayed about the same with dealers still managing to bring it into the country. That paired with people trying to feed their addiction has led to other consequences.

“Provincially, property crime stats have been down. More people are home, so less property crime is taking place, but now people are returning to work, and we expect those numbers to creep up again,” Lakusta explains.

“With the increase in drug prices, people need to feed that habit — unfortunately a lot of people are suffering from addictions — so without work, they may turn to petty crime in order to do so and that’s something we’re paying close attention to.”

Methamphetamine and fentanyl have dominated the bulk of drug seizures, with the latter leading to many overdose-related deaths this year, particularly early in the pandemic, Lakusta says.

“There’s a lot of meth, especially in southern Alberta.”

In 2019/20, ALERT seized 12,482 grams of methamphetamine. Last November, ALERT wrapped up Project Coyote in Calgary, which seized 250,000 fentanyl pills, a total believed to be the largest of its kind in Canadian history.

Lakusta notes that last year, Red Deer was the highest of seven communities when it came to the number of firearms seized by ALERT members.

“It’s a disturbing trend because we’re seeing innocent people who are straw purchasing firearms. These are people who don’t have criminal records being approached by organized criminals who can’t buy firearms because of their records,” he lamented. “These pro-social people think they’re just being innocent, but then they’re turning firearms over to the organized crime world. It’s a trend we’re on top of and there are a number of initiatives we’re working on to have a stronger impact on firearms.”

Lakusta believes ALERT continues to have success because of how well they cooperate with other law enforcement agencies.

“We work better with our partners when we’re sharing, and not just in Alberta, but across the country, in the USA and internationally,” he says. “We recently expanded, with support from the Alberta Government, four teams dedicated to human trafficking, counter exploitation, auto crimes, and scrap metal.”

ALERT has seven of what they call a Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU), and will soon add an eighth in Lloydminster.

ALERT also assisted over the last year with police in Abilene, Texas, Grant’s Pass, Oregon, New Zealand Police, and the US Department of Homeland Security.