Guelph Police Services saw a 62 per cent increase in child pornography investigations in 2023, 10 per cent above the national average.
In 2022, there were 42 investigations. That number rose to 68 in 2023, GPS media relations coordinator Scott Tracey told GuelphToday.
In 2024 so far there have been 44 investigations into child pornography offences, which include accessing, possessing, making, printing or distributing child pornography.
The national average saw an increase of 52 per cent in 2023, or 53 incidents per 100,000 population, according to a new report from Statistics Canada – the largest contributor to the increase in the overall Crime Severity Index for 2023, which now sits at 80.5.
In total, there were 21,417 incidents of child pornography reported by police across Canada in 2023; making or distributing child pornography accounted for 76 per cent of incidents. The remaining 24 per cent of cases were for possessing or accessing child pornography; 97 per cent of all cases involved a cybercrime component.
Statistics Canada attributes some of the increase to more current and historical cases being forwarded to local police services by specialized provincial Internet child exploitation police units and the National Child Exploitation Crime Centre, as well as increased public awareness.
Tracey said those are likely the reasons for the increase locally as well.
“Most of this increase can likely be attributed to more cases being reported to police due to increased public awareness, as well as increased partnerships between police services and other agencies related to combating child sexual exploitation,” he said.
“Also, as technology improves and becomes more widespread there is a corresponding increase in internet-based crimes. Nearly all of our child pornography investigations include a cyber element, as these tend to be computer-based crimes.”
