The Quebec government has announced the creation of a new police unit to fight sexual exploitation of children online, to the tune of $11 million over the next five years.
The announcement was made Thursday in Montreal by Public Security Minister Geneviève Guilbault, interim director of the Sûreté de Québec Mario Bouchard and Sylvain Caron, the head of Montreal police.
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The number of youth-related crimes in the area of sexual exploitation to grow, including child luring and child pornography, according to Guilbault.
From 2012 to 2019, the number of police increased from 100 per year to more than 1,000.
The new team will be in charge of co-ordinating investigations against cyber predators. Co-ordination in the area is particularly important because this type of crime knows no boundaries, according to Bouchard.
WATCH: (July 12, 2019) Protecting children from being victims of online pornography