CORNWALL, Ontario – The Cornwall Community Police Service (CCPS) were one of many participants in Operation Northern Spotlight, a human trafficking outreach program that involved police services from across Ontario and across the world including the RCMP and the FBI.
In Ontario, the operation helped six people who had been working in the sex trade and were in exploitive situations, including two under the age of 16.
There were also 12 people were charged with 21 offences as part of Operation Northern Spotlight.
“The Cornwall Community Police Service Criminal Investigations Division, Street Crime Unit & Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Unit participated in Operation Northern Spotlight. During Operation Northern Spotlight, police met with individuals suspected of being in exploited situations,” the CCPS said in a statement. “They were provided contact information for community-based support agencies and offered both immediate and future police assistance to leave the exploitation. It should be noted that the initiative is not intended to engage those who are not being exploited.”
International police organizations that took part in Operation Northern Spotlight include police services in Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Cambodia and the United Kingdom.
“We are and always will be an active partner in any provincial operation that may better our community, end human trafficking and assisting the victims of crime,” said Detective Sergeant Maxwell of the CCPS Criminal Investigations Division.
