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Keep Your Children Safe on the Internet This Summer

      Now that school is at a mid-point out and kids are past the holidays with an eye toward their summer leisure hours, caregivers should pay particular attention to their children's Internet use and not rely on it as a co-babysitter with their television sets.  It is a time of year when Blue Knight Productions, creators of e-copp.com, have serious concerns about the safety and welfare of our children from the increasing dangers posed by the Internet.  

     Tom Wetzel quotes, “As police officers who have been teaching children's Internet safety for years, we recognize the naiveté of young people to just how dark the World Wide Web can be and the casual lack of oversight by parents or the misplaced confidence in screening software.  All of it mixes up a recipe for serious problems for the lives and psyches of our kids”. The anymonity of the Internet lures children into the dangers that exist on-line.

     For children 10 years and under, early exposure to pornography is particularly troublesome.  Whether accidentally or deliberately, porn can find its way onto your computer screens when your child is on it.  Make no mistake that their little minds are not hardwired for such imagery and there are indications revealing disturbing trends where some children are acting out sexually on other children as a result of this corrupt visualization.  Children do not understand such imagery and sometimes have a hard time expressing what they have visualized. Not withstanding the blurring lines for law enforcement on determining culpability of young violators, it is crystal clear that children have been victimized.  The poison of porn has always been problematic for adults but now it is corroding our children's minds primarily through easy Internet access.  With over 40,000 porn sites on the Net, this toxic influence will likely get worse. Caregivers have to be aware of this and know how to take control of the computer.

          An invasion of their privacy can even begin with on-line chatting. Children will feel a trusted friendly relationship was violated through empowering behavior. Most offenders openly solicit victims on-line through bringing up sexual topics, engaging in cyber sex or transmitting sexual pictures. This is done through the anymonity of the Web. Phone encounters may progress after on-line activity then can advance to actual physical encounters. Many cases of abuse involved face-to-face sexual encounters, some of these involving some form of sexual contact between the offender and the victim. The offender is not considered a stranger to the child for they feel they have created a “trusting” friendship. Many crimes occur after the offender builds a relationship on-line with the victim therefore they were not perceived as someone victim did not know. A type of a trusting relationship was built then the unequal powering activity occurs. This is a form of abuse.

And for our young teenagers, the hip appeal to social networking sites such as My Space and Face Book are not without serious risks and parents are negligent if they dismiss their teen's participation as nothing more than "kids being kids."  Moms shouldn't delude themselves into thinking that their sons and daughters are just kibitzing with their friends inside networks only secure to those pals with passwords.  Visits or browsing throughout these systems can lead them to some bizarre stuff.  Also, the word out is that there are two networks set up, one that teens show their parents and one that they access outside their supervision.  Ask yourself why they would do this.  Also "friends" can become estranged and we all know that ex-friends are capable of sharing those old secrets, i.e. room access, of ex-friends.  Instantly outsiders are accessing private information and downloading pictures without permission. This is indeed violating. These “notebooks” are not secure and safe. Many so called “outsiders” can gain access to personal information and befriend anyone listing personal information about them. It is so important to always know who the children are chatting with. If they were not on the computer teens would probably having nothing to do with some of the people they are chatting with. Why should this be different on-line?

     Parents and teens should be especially vigilant in posting those innocuous pictures of them at the beach in their bathing suits, at school in varsity jerseys, with friends, family, or honestly any photos at all.  Once those pictures are out, they can easily get lost in an electronic universe where retrieving them is unrealistic.  So for every Dad who is uncomfortable with the idea of a picture of his daughter wearing her two pieces being a screen saver for a pedophile two states over, careful oversight of what your kids post is in order.  Actually, if anyone thinks that it is only kids visiting these sites, they are not being real.  There are 550,000 registered sex offenders in this country of which 150,000 are in non-compliance.  Don't mislead yourself that plenty aren't regularly visiting these networking sites to "socialize." Older adults pose as teenagers and young teens pose as older to gain access to the web sites. Nothing is honest and almost anything goes. 

     With teens spending almost 15 hours a week online, parents need to maintain strict time management of their kids' access to their computers.  Although not fool proof, screening software can help in controlling their access to some visual trash and hate speech.  But being a nosy parent is a critical behavior that could help protect your child from unhealthy imagery and the luring efforts of Internet child predators.  Don't be afraid to look over your kid's shoulders when they are on-line, "snoop" when they are off-line and ask questions. Have the computer situated in an open family environment. Kids are less likely to be secretive when they are using the computer in the family room with the family rather than in private in their bedrooms. Consistent open channels of communications are critical for parents and kids.  Cops know that idle minds can lead to mischief but when you toss in a computer with Internet access over the summer months, mischief can lead to outright danger for our youth.  A visit to Blue Knight Productions web-site at  www.e-copp.com  is highly encouraged to learn more about ways to keep your children safe.

Tom Wetzel, Vice President, Founder

Lisa M. Owens, Director of Marketing; Public Relations; RN, BS, MBA, CLNC

 “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

Irish politician Edmund Burke (1729 – 1797).