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St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Lee Enterprises

Sunday, January 7, 2007 9:33 PM CST
Keeping kids safe on the Internet
Meeting set to help parents with online questions

By ROB STROUD, Staff Writer
rstroud@jg-tc.com

CHARLESTON -- Dateline NBC’s investigative reports about sexual predators targeting teens online have caused many local parents to worry about their own children being at risk.

Deputy Chief Mark Jenkins said these parents have approached the Charleston Police Department during the last six months with concerns and questions about the risks of their children’s Internet usage.

Consequently, Jenkins said, the police department plans to offer tips for protecting children online during a public meeting at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Charleston High School library. Community members from Charleston and beyond are welcome to attend.

“Knowing the places and people your children visit online is just as important as knowing their friends and the places they go in the real world,” Jenkins said. “Unless you know what your child is doing in cyberspace, he or she could be in danger.”

Jenkins said MySpace, Facebook and other social networking Web sites are popular with teens, who post personal information and photos there. He said sexual predators are attracted by this information and pretend to be teens so they can prey on unsuspecting youths.

The police department has posted a phony profile of a 14-year-old girl on one social networking site as a test and received some “interesting” responses, the deputy chief said.

“Once you open an account on MySpace or Facebook, you have opened your personal history to the world,” Jenkins said. “You are opening yourself up to a whole new area of problems.”

Jenkins said the police department fortunately has not received reports yet of sexual predators targeting Charleston teens through the Internet. However, he said predators could solicit local youths without officers or parents being aware.

“Our goal is to reduce the possibility of online victimization, increase the level of reporting of criminal activity, and provide resources for families to help them guard against Internet dangers,” he said. “Becoming involved is the most important and effective way to protect children online and the keys to this are parental involvements and supervision.”

Jenkins said Lt. Bryan Baker, the police department’s information technology officer, will give a presentation on protecting children online. He said Baker will be assisted by a guest speaker from Eastern Illinois University who is familiar with social networking Web sites.

The deputy chief thanked Charleston school district officials for being willing to host the public meeting.

District Superintendent Gary Niehaus said he thought the department’s tips on protecting children online would meet a need of Charleston area parents and teens who are concerned about sexual predators.

Jenkins said the police department plans to hold a series of public meetings to address other concerns it has heard from the community. He said topics could include identify theft, recognizing the signs of methamphetamine production or use, and scams that target senior citizens.

“We wanted to increase our community policing activity,” Jenkins said. “We wanted to offer something informative that would increase our communications with the public.”

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Stephen wrote on Jul 17, 2006 8:22 AM:

" I can't believe the police use Facebook to look for parties. "

Defaulticus Rex wrote on Jul 17, 2006 2:17 PM:

" The police in Charleston use Facebook to look for "a heads-up" on parties and "similar tips"? I advise anyone who would use Facebook as a law enforcement tool to please read the privacy and terms of use pages on Facebook. Every second spent sitting around trollinng through students' Facebook profiles could be used on more important things... like trying to stop the terrible Methamphetamine crisis in our county. "

Doug wrote on Jul 17, 2006 3:42 PM:

" It's unbelievable the personal information people post on Myspace and similar sites. heck, the Columbine killers practically announced their attentions ahead of time in a similar way, but no one paid attention. I think occasionally reviewing these sites is just fine, and will in fact help fight the Meth problem. "

Flood wrote on Jul 17, 2006 4:23 PM:

" True, but I think if a person is dumb enough to broadcast illegal activity in a public forum like that, they almost deserve to get caught. It's not like facebook is meant to be an anonmous alter-ego like many online situations. "

Madison Fisher wrote on May 29, 2007 3:54 PM:

" Well, I agree with what Corrine and ZOe said even though i didn't use to like to learn about abe what we did there was realy cool. I go to Jefferson and MR. Taylor has all was been very interested it Abe Lincoln and now i am to. It's realy great to understan what he learnd. "

shelly wrote on Jun 7, 2007 7:29 AM:

" I think SBLHC has to much controll over this community, they seem to only care about the bottom line even when you call there the first option to select is the billing department even befor the emergency room. that says alot "

Sara Martin wrote on Jun 13, 2007 2:35 PM:

" Well, this has been my second year going to Jefferson school,at my old school they never realy engaged in that sort of learning.so iwas realy excited when they brought that in to our school "

lbabycakes44 wrote on Jul 31, 2008 6:41 PM:

" Bagelfest... I think in my opinion it was so much better when it was up on Broadway between 14- 17th Streets...more room to go and do things..instead of being confined in a park... I used to like going to it when I was younger..now I really dont get that much into it..since then..they have added a beer tent...which means more people inebriated around children...which to some people that I have spoken with, they really arent all up on that idea..but they deal with it..

To me its the same thing every year...put some minds together and add a few more activities..the Bagel Bow-wow and the pageant are getting to be "old news" ..as in bagel -boring...zzzzzz "