Fighting Online Predators With Education
One more police department is taking a stand against online predators. Marion police officers are asking parents and adults to join the fight right now, and the weapon of choice is education. But while local leaders want parents to get involved, TV-9 found other people who spend time with your kids, like volunteers at kids clubs are also feeling the pressure to keep kids safe.
Ten-year-old Alissa BearKiller and her friends at the Boys & Girls Club of Cedar Rapids enjoy spending time in front of the computer screen. The club encourages its kids to explore the Internet, but its exploration with a lot of supervision.
“Part of it has fallen in the actual server itself, cyber patrol and net nanny. The other part is we never let kids in the room by themselves,” says John Tursi of the Boys & Girls Club of Cedar Rapids.
But one-on-one attention like that at the club isn’t available for every child. And when adults are out of the picture, the Internet often equals trouble for kids.
“Statistics show one out of four maybe five children get approached on the Internet by predators and don’t even know it,” says Chief Harry Daugherty of the Marion Police Department.
And most times, neither do their parents. So, the Marion Police Department wants to educate those parents on the “dos and don’ts” of the World Wide Web. Most parents agree, more than 80% of them say there’s no excuse for not knowing enough about the Internet to protect kids.
The police chief says he wants to assign someone on his staff to Internet safety full time. But parents, to do your part, the department’s first class is Tuesday night at the Linn-Mar High School auditorium at 7:00 p.m. The next one is Wednesday, September 27 at 7:00 p.m. at the Marion High School auditorium. All parents are welcome.
