Life at ICS
IMPD Detective Provides Words to the Wise Regarding Child Internet Safety
On Monday evening, Oct. 15, 2007, the ICS hosted a Child Internet Safety presentation by Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Detective Steve Burke. Detective Burke is a member of IMPD's Cyber Crimes Unit.
In addition to hearing some harrowing stories about Detective Burke's experience investigating local Internet child predators, ICS parents in attendance received some essential advice in overseeing their children's use of the Internet. He noted these key points:
1. Children have no right to privacy when it comes to their safety. Parents are responsible for their children's behavior and should assert themselves accordingly, especially when it involves their children's computer use. This includes having full access to their kids' MySpace and Facebook accounts and passwords.
2. Children, being children, tend to manipulate the truth. Detective Burke noted that the unwritten rule for social networking sites and emailing strangers met on the Internet is "everyone lies." Pedophiles and kids alike.
3. When it comes to the safety of their children, parents should always trust their instincts. For instance, if you feel the urge to inspect your children's bedrooms, don't hesitate.
4. Children should never be allowed to have a computer in their bedrooms. Home computers used by kids should be situated in a common area. And time spent on the Internet should be monitored and limited.
5. The profile for Internet child predators is overwhelmingly that of white males ages 40-55. Beyond that, they come from all walks of life.
6. Children will sometimes use email to send threats to other kids. This is viewed by law enforcement as battery and can be dealt with harshly.
7. Parents need to become better acquainted with web browsers. Kids know how to dump their site visitation histories. Parents should prohibit this as a usage rule.
8. Ask your Internet provider for information about child Internet safety tools and programs they offer. Such services are often free of charge.
9. Reserve the right to take away home computer usage and cell phones as consequences for kids' poor behavior.
10. Cyber crime is, unfortunately, one of the fastest growing areas in law enforcement. IMPD has one full-time officer online as a child decoy. Detective Burke says they could use five and still not be able to keep up with the amount of suspected Internet predators in the Indianapolis area.
Detective Burke highly recommends parents use Kim Komando's "10 Commandments for Kids Online" parent-child Internet use contract.
If you have any questions about child Internet safety, please contact the IMPD Cyber Crimes Unit at 327-3190.