Two police officers from the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT) are asking parents and educators for help in the battle against internet predators.
Constable Scott Sterling with the RCMP and Constable Stephanie Bosch with the Edmonton Police Service have been travelling the province spreading their message, hoping a proactive approach of internet safety education can prevent children from becoming victims of online predators.
“The idea behind our unit is that enforcement is always going to be important. Yes, it’s going to be our priority; finding offenders and holding them accountable for the crimes they commit against children online, definitely,” says Bosch. “But what if there was something we could do more proactively?”
She says they thought if they could reach out and get community engagement, they could reduce the victimization of kids through sextortion and child luring by bringing awareness to the issue and talking about it.
There are multiple ways that people can be victimized, and while some of those ways are well known and documented, technology is ever-evolving, and it’s hard for parents to keep up with all of those dangers.
The good news, say Sterling and Bosch, is that parents already have the skill sets to be proactive with their children in this area.
“Eighty percent of the work we do, you cannot help us with,” says Sterling. “The other 20 percent — luring, sextortion, self-exploitation — you can have a meaningful impact in those crimes.”
The way to do this? Be present in your children’s lives and have the awkward conversations with them about what happens if someone solicits them for inappropriate images.
“Your children need your presence, not your presents,” says Sterling, quoting Jesse Jackson.
Sterling used an example of the correct way to handle these conversations that most parents have said or heard from their own parents. When kids are going out to a party, parents don’t want them to drink, but they will tell them that they would rather get a call at 2 a.m. asking for a ride because their child is drunk than have them get into a vehicle with a drunk driver or drive themselves home.
He suggested parents talk to their children about the dangers of sharing explicit photographs, and then let the children know that if they do make that mistake, they can come to the parents without fear of getting into trouble.
Bosch and Sterling say parents might have to give a little in order to make their children feel like they can talk to them. Rather than telling kids that online friends aren’t real, or that they will get in trouble with the police for doing certain things, parents should offer a safe, judgement-free space for their children to speak. Children need to feel like they are safe to tell their parents when they’ve made a mistake.
“What we often see when doing these presentations in the community are parents that come to us looking for that bad application; that bad place on the internet,” says Bosch. “The thought process behind it is that if I can keep my kid from going there, whether it’s denying them access to technology or the internet or having an application like Snapchat, then they won’t get lured.”
Bosch says she understands that approach and why parents seek that information. However, Bosch and Sterling were adamant that the apps aren’t the problem. The predators are the problem, and parents need to prepare their children for what happens when they come across one.
Sterling explained that if a child was at a food court in the mall and some random person approached them to ask where they lived or for explicit photos, the child would immediately go to their parents for help. He says they should be taught that that response is appropriate when a stranger asks for similar information in a randomized chat app.
If parents had only one takeaway from the evening, Sterling and Bosch said they hoped it was a couple of sentences. For parents, it’s, “If you do… I will…” and for the kids, it’s, “If I do… I will…”
Sterling and Bosch say the most important thing parents can do is let their children know they aren’t alone if they make a mistake online.
Anyone dealing with any of these online crimes, such as sextortion, child-luring, self-exploitation, or distribution of explicit photos, should report the incident to the police. Victims should save photos and screenshots of conversations as evidence. For information about reporting these crimes or talking to children about the risks, visit www.cybertips.ca.
By Amanda Jeffery, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Original Published on Apr 16, 2026 at 09:46
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