Mounties rescued fiev children and arrested over 150 individuals in connection to Operation Snapshot III investigation

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Five children were removed from harm and over 150 individuals were arrested or are presently under investigation as part of a national coast to coast operation, called Operation Snapshot III. The operation, which began in February 2014, involved over 40 police agencies and was coordinated by the RCMP’s National Child Exploitation Coordination Centre (NCECC).

“For every person arrested and prosecuted, dozens of potential future victims are saved from harm,” said RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson. “Over the past three years, Snapshot has built on the dedication, partnership and collaborative efforts of police agencies, sending a message to would-be abusers that we will not be deterred from protecting children.”

The operation targeted child sex offenders who collect, possess, share, make available, distribute and produce child sexual exploitation material online. The operation involved 167 investigations that were conducted by municipal, provincial and federal police services, which resulted in the seizure of hundreds of computers and hard drives along with nearly two million images or videos. Throughout the investigation, the RCMP’s NCECC ensured that communication was maintained between agencies working in parallel on investigations as well as the sharing of information to identify and remove child victims of online sexual exploitation.

RCMP NCECC’s goal was to harness the expertise and relationships that had been built over the course of the first two successful operations and to cast a net across Canada that involved even more partners. The operation involved collaborating on investigations and providing training to officers located in various Internet Child Exploitation units and other officers who had not dealt with this type of investigation previously.

“Prevention is key in combating internet-facilitated child sexual exploitation,” said RCMP Superintendent John Bilinski, Officer in Charge of the Canadian Police Centre for Missing and Exploitation Children/Behavioural Sciences Branch. “Empowering children, parents, friends and teachers on how to combat internet predators can make a difference. It is crucial for people to educate themselves about who to trust, where to find help and how to take action.”

Operation Snapshot III follows the two previously successful operations: Operation Snapshot in 2012 targeted individuals in the Prairie and Northern regions of Canada, and Operation Snapshot II in 2013 focused on individuals in Atlantic Canada. The two operations combined were responsible for the rescue of five children, the arrest of 54 individuals and the seizure of millions of child sexual exploitation images and countless leads in other child sexual exploitation cases.