Report: Child exploitation, robberies on the rise in Kelowna | 24CA News
A report outlining crime statistics from 2022 will likely be introduced to Kelowna metropolis council on Monday.
The report notes basic crime noticed a return to pre-pandemic ranges in 2022.
Overall requires service final 12 months had been down six per cent, nonetheless, Kelowna’s downtown space noticed an uptick in requires service by 12.6 per cent.
One disturbing discovering within the report was famous by the RCMP’s Integrated Child Exploitation Unit (ICE), which revealed that nationwide, possessing and accessing youngster sexual abuse materials is up 21 per cent and up 67 per cent in Kelowna.
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ICE handled 70 recordsdata final 12 months, in comparison with 42 in 2021 and 30 in 2020.
Last month, Kelowna RCMP confirmed these crimes are on the rise within the metropolis and consequently, created a devoted investigative group of cops known as the Internet Child Exploitation Unit.
According to RCMP, the Kelowna ICE Unit’s targets are to make sure youngsters are usually not being abused, take away photos from the web and efficiently prosecute those that entry, produce, and visitors the fabric.
Other notable developments in 2022 embrace robberies and business break-and-enters elevated from a 2021 baseline.
Robberies, being one of the regarding to the group and the Kelowna RCMP, had been up 43 per cent final 12 months, which is a rise of 33 instances in comparison with the earlier 12 months.
Kelowna skilled a 26 per cent rise in business break-and-enters. In response to the elevated numbers, final August, RCMP started focused enforcement of precedence repeat offenders and, in accordance with the report, since then there was a discount in a majority of these crimes.
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