Orillia OPP takes aim at internet luring

Orillia’s OPP detachment commander is encouraged that area youth are reporting instances of internet luring, saying their efforts are sparking investigations and leading to arrests.

Insp. Veronica Eaton raised the issue while cataloguing the range of crimes investigated by police during a November meeting of the city’s police services board.

“As much as it’s a sad story that that’s happening, it is a good news story that those young people know to report it and that it’s wrong,” Eaton told the board’s members. “I’m trying to see the positive out of that one.”

Eaton’s statistical report painted a picture of the crimes investigated within the area patrolled by the local detachment from July through September.

Over that time, police responded to 47 sexual assaults with 40 per cent of cases cleared, 10 of them by charges.

Four victims declined to move forward with an investigation and seven of the cases remain under investigation, Eaton said.

In the remaining cases police did not have enough evidence to proceed with a charge, she added. Diving deeper into the data, Eaton said the incidents included internet luring for sexual purposes.

One charge was laid in July in relation to the offence, while two more in August and September remain under investigation.   

“We did have a few occurrences where people were trying to lure minors over the internet that ultimately got reported to police,” Eaton said.

Police over the same three-month period responded to more than 240 reports of domestic violence that ranged “from verbal to criminal in nature,” Eaton said.

Slightly less than 30 per cent of those cases involved a criminal act, she added.

One abduction was reported over the same period.

“That was in relation to human trafficking and we did apprehend the person responsible for that,” Eaton said.

Police also investigated 107 assault cases over the same period, 76 of which were cleared by charges.

“Five of those cases were actually (involving someone) assaulting a police officer,” she said.

Orillia OPP responded to five robberies during the three-month period, with police laying a charge in one case and continuing to investigate the others.