Calgary police officer facing 3 child porn charges released on bail

Calgary police Const. Thomas Buttlewascharged with three counts of child porn-related charges on Friday and released on bail after spending a night in custody.

The Internet Child Exploitation (ICE)unit of theAlberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT) led the investigation.

The officer was chargedwith possessing, accessing and distributing child pornography. Hewas arrested Thursday and spent a night in custodybecause of a"glitch with the paperwork,"according to his lawyer, Alain Hepner.

Around noon, Buttle, whowas in Calgary,appeared over closed-circuit TV before a justice of the peace who was in Edmonton.

He was released on bail ona number of conditions, including that he not have contact with children unless supervised by another adult.

'Child pornography images were found'

The investigation began in January after ICE received a tip from theRCMP'schild exploitation centre that a social media user had uploaded "child sexual exploitation materials," according to ALERT.

ICE then workedto identify the user, and only recently learned the suspect isa police officer.

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Buttle'shome inCalgary wassearched and severalcomputers and electronic devices were seized.

"Child pornography images were found as the result of a forensic preview," said ALERT in a news release Friday afternoon.

A complete forensic examination will now be undertaken by ICE forensic technicians.

CPS responds

In a statement, the Calgary Police Service says it takes the charges "very seriously."

"These allegations have a significant impact on the trust and confidence that the public has in our service, the importance of this trust and confidence is not lost on our members, who work tirelessly to serve Calgarians to the best of their ability.

"Allegations such as these not only have a profound impact on the community, but also other members of the Service who work so hard to build the reputation we need to best serve our city."

CPS confirms the four-year member has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of his trial.

Buttlewill be back in court later this month.

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