Monday, July 19, 2004 11:29 AM CDT
Parental involvement can help protect children online
By HUEY FREEMAN, Staff Writer
Children are being victimized at an alarming rate, as computers provide predators with easy access to them.
Experts say parents, many of whom have little knowledge of computers, must monitor their children's online habits, just as they would protect them from strangers at a playground.
Mike Sullivan, author of "Safety Monitor: How to Protect Your Kids Online," said the majority of the children being victimized are 8 to 15 years old, with an equal number of boys and girls.
He said the predators are contacting children on the Internet, arranging to have sex with them and get pornographic pictures of them.
"Our unit alone has arrested 125 different predators from 16 countries since 1996," said Sullivan, a detective with the major crimes unit of the Naperville Police Department.
Sullivan said he wrote his book because parents kept asking him the same questions at Internet seminars he held on the subject.
They wanted to know what kind of parental controls or devices they should use. They often mentioned that their children know more about computers than they do.
"By writing the book, I could reach out to more parents," he said.
Sullivan and other experts recommend that children, including teens, should not have computers in their rooms, since predators thrive on privacy.
"It should be in a common room, so you can look at the screen," Sullivan said.
The detective also recommends the use of Cyber Sentinel, filtering software that searches computers for text, including questions predators frequently ask children. If questions such as "are you home alone" are picked up, while a child is in a chat room, the parents are alerted via e-mail.
While statistics on crimes against children using the Internet are not readily available, Sullivan said there are indications of their high incidence.
A 2001 survey of 1,501 young Internet users, 10 to 17 years old, showed almost one in five received an unwanted sexual solicitation during the past year. Three percent of the children received an aggressive solicitation involving requests or attempts at personal contact.
According to the study, conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice and the University of New Hampshire, 25 percent of the young people reported unwanted exposure to sexual material.
Sgt. Gary Buenting of the Decatur Police Department's juvenile investigations division said there is a local increase of crimes involving Internet child pornography. He said the department has investigated eight cases involving the Internet and children during the past year.
Buenting suggests that parents learn their children's e-mail password so they can access their e-mail, especially in the case of emergencies.
In a recent case, in which a 16-year-old girl was planning to leave the state with an older teen, Buenting said the police were able to intervene by looking at messages on a computer.
He said parents should be overprotective, especially toward preteens.
"You don't know who's behind the keyboard," he said.
Allison Turkel, senior attorney of the National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse, an Alexandria, Va.-based research institute, said the widespread use of the Internet has given predators more access to a larger pool of children.
In the past, molesters were mostly family members or those who worked with children. Now, anyone who uses a computer can have access to children.
Turkel said the predators are good at finding children who need attention, those who are questioning their sexual identity and children who are allowed to spend time alone at their computers.
Turkel suggests that parents talk to children about their bodies and sexuality.
"Parents being open with their children on sexuality is an important tool for prevention," she said.
Monique Nelson, executive vice president of Web Wise Kids, a not-for-profit organization based in southern California, said parents who do not monitor their children's online activities are putting them at risk.
"The predators used to hang out at playgrounds to stalk a child," she said. "Now the playgrounds are instant messaging and chat rooms. That's where they go to. The issue is global. It's not just in the neighborhood."
As an example, Sullivan said the police recently arrested a man who traveled from Spain to Naperville for the purpose of meeting a child.
Predators are often successful with children living in rural areas, Nelson said.
"They say: Wouldn't you like to get out of Illinois in the winter and go to the beach?" Nelson said. "We've got kids by themselves at home without parents. The computer is their friend, and they spend a heck of a lot of time there by themselves."
Law enforcement agencies are becoming more aggressive and sophisticated in finding and prosecuting predators.
Sullivan said the Illinois Attorney General's High Tech Crimes Bureau has successfully prosecuted 400 online sex predators in the past six years.
"Most people who go online have a misperception they are anonymous," Sullivan said. "Most leave an enormous footprint, making it easy to find them. For the most part, they are making it easy for law enforcement to locate them."
Contact Huey Freeman at hfreeman@herald-review.com or 421-6985.
The statistics
-- Two of every five missing children 15 to 17 years old are abducted as a result of Internet activity.
-- Ninety percent of initial contacts by Internet child sexual predators take place in chat rooms.
Recommendations for parents to follow
-- Do not allow children to have computers with Internet access in their rooms.
-- Do not allow children to use Web cams, digital cameras or camcorders without close supervision.
-- Closely monitor chat rooms children visit.
-- Regularly search the Internet history on computers in your home.
-- Monitor your children's phone calls. The predators often initiate phone contact after a few Internet chats. Predators frequently send phone cards to avoid the calls showing up on bills.
-- If you are suspicious of any message your child receives, contact the tip line at www.missingkids.com/cybertip. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children will investigate the concern and contact a law enforcement agency.
Sources: www.crisisconnectioninc.org, www.webwisekids.org
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