Pandemic Impacts ICE Unit

When COVID-19 arrived in Canada, life slowed down for people who started working from home and cutting back on social activities. But, for investigators in ALERT’s Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) Unit, things only got more hectic. In March 2020 alone, the ICE Unit took in 243 online child exploitation files — more than double the […]

Laying the Foundation

Seeing is believing, as the old saying goes. But when it comes to organized crime investigations, seeing is the key to bringing perpetrators to justice. That’s where ALERT’s surveillance teams come in. Operating across Alberta in support of organized crime investigators, they collect detailed information on associations, exchanges, evidence and techniques. “A picture is worth […]

Cross-Border Cooperation

While the laws they enforce and the methods they use might differ, law enforcement agencies on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border have the same goal: To catch the bad guys. That shared goal is a big reason why Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT) and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) have developed a […]

Making the Connection Through ACIIS

Sharing intelligence is one of the most effective weapons law enforcement agencies have at their disposal in combatting serious and organized crime. And one of the best ways they have to share that intelligence is through the Automated Criminal Intelligence Information System (ACIIS). ACIIS is the only national criminal intelligence database and is governed by […]

Good Neighbours: Alberta, B.C. Work Together to Curb Interprovincial Crime

Organized crime doesn’t respect provincial borders, but thanks to cooperation between police agencies in British Columbia and Alberta, more effort is being put into tackling criminals who operate interprovincial. Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT) and the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit – British Columbia (CFSEU-BC) have had a long-standing working relationship as they investigate […]

Looking Out for Luring

The word “luring” conjures up every parent’s worst nightmare: Their children are enticed by a predator they met online to leave the house and meet up with them in person. But Det. Leigh Happner with ALERT’s Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) Unit says that, when laying charges in an investigation, the definition of “luring” is quite […]