Hi Anne, I do not know if the below comment in your recent posting is reflective of your view or the general populace of the US but it certainly appears negative towards the Police.
"Richardson thought not, but the solution is not the one-shot "parent awareness night" or "some type of scary Internet predator presentation by a state policeman."
I have been involved in the presentation of esafety awareness nights across the South West Uk for some time now and have presented to aprox 5,000 parents. The main thrust of the presentation, co presented with an educationalist (www.swgfl.org.uk), is in fact very positive. We focus a great deal on the technology, how enabling it is and how the children use and adapt it. Our favourite saying is 'dialogue' in encouraging parents to talk to their kids about how they use the Internet and give them methods to deal with some of the issues without being prohibitive.
I do not apologise in any manner for the scary bits I include. I witness at first hand the methods of the predators and view the abhorent child abuse images freely available to those who know where to find them. I agree with the premise that the real way to go is to educate the children themselves in how to use the technology and web space available to them in a manner that keeps them safe. That however is utopia and in the real world every little bit of properly balanced advice to parents I believe is very valuable whether from the Police or elsewhere. Sometimes it may take a police officer to make valid points that strike home.
I would be interested in how your readers see the Police role in esafety if they see one at all?
Thanks
Alan - A UK police officer.
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Anne
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507
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Re: 'The parents fault - not' the role of the police in esafety
Nov 12, 2008 10:21 PM
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mama bobo, we're so sorry to hear about what you and your daughter are deadling with. Being based in the United States, we're not sure what your legal options are in Australia. Have you tried contacting NetAlert there? Here's the link with information and resources (including how to contact them): http://www.netalert.gov.au/. Please let us know how things turn out. All best, Anne -- Anne Collier ConnectSafely co-director |
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mama bobo
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1
From:
queensland
Registered:
11/12/08
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Re: 'The parents fault - not' the role of the police in esafety
Nov 12, 2008 5:46 PM
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can anyone advise me please i have a (just turned)18year old daughter,myself and two good friends (female)was befriended by a male in his early 50's once he found out we had teenage daughters, not knowing at the time of his intensions towards these girls, one of the girls who is 17 told him were to go, but my daughter whom at the time was also 17 has been sucked into his web and is now a totally different person, and the things she is coming out of her mouth now is not the person whom i have raised. i have confronted this person who i will say is a legal predator, as my daughter is not the first that this sick person has preyed upon he does this to girls aged 16 to 22, he buys them jewellery, clothes, tells them how lovely they are and also how much better off without their family (especially meaning me ) in his eye's i'm a physo b****. that he can give them everything they need and want, and that they don't have to rely on anyone but him! I have been to the police, bravehearts, a solicitor, dept child safety and as she is 18 there is nothing that as a parent can do to proctect my daughter from this predator! surely there must be something that can be done to protect these innocent girls before alot of harm comes to them, if not my daughter but some other innocent one. he has already done time (for what i do not know)he has children of his own and is not allowed to have contact with them (abit sus).
i have confronted him twice face to face, have sent sms telling him to back off, i also have phoned and told him to back off.i have even tried to embarise him, but the only thing he did was raise his hand at me. my car was also tampered with last night as the alarm went off at 3.45am, someone tried to get into the yard at 3am tue's morning wat next???
he just keeps trying to contact her, every time she logs onto msn or facebook he is there.
iam really worried that this predator is going to run off with my daughter when she finishes school next week. (year 12)
very sick with worry if any one could give me any advise PLEASE i will/do anything to get her away from this legal pedafile.
mama bobo
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Anne
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Re: 'The parents fault - not' the role of the police in esafety
Nov 7, 2008 3:12 PM
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Alan, you raise an important point and an interesting question - thank you for your post! I would be very interested, too, in hearing from parents and other participants in this forum how they view the role of law enforcement in online-safety education. Please post about this, people!
I think you're referring to this post in my blog. I do think that Will Richardson (in my quote from his blog here) is mainly talking about how some school administrators feel parents are entirely responsible for unruly behavior by their social-networking kids. His main point was that schools have a role too in educating young people about "integrating these skills and literacies [into their lives] in a systemic way. If you want kids to be educated about these tools and environments, then maybe we should, um, educate them."
As for the "scary Internet predator presentation" phrase, I think it reflects the realities of online-safety education and media influence so far in this country. To a large extent the former has been cops coming to schools talking about "predators" and online crime. It's important for youth to understand potential risks, but the focus shouldn't be "predators" and crime when the research increasingly shows that the kinds of risks most kids face online are more about adolescent behavior and critical thinking, or the lack thereof (a researcher at the Univ. of New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center recently told me that probably less than one-tenth of 1% of online youth are at risk of sexual exploitation as a result of Internet activity). Meanwhile, 2 separate national studies here in the US have found that about one-third of all online teens have experienced online harassment or the more extreme cyberbullying. Education about that type of risk involves steady lessons and "teachable moments" about critical thinking, behavioral ethics, media literacy, and citizenship - where schools are the experts, not cops, the experts on crime and criminal behavior. I certainly applaud all police officers who provide a balanced picture of online risks (we have a fantastic youth officer and detective in Connecticut, Frank Dannahey, on our advisory board), but I agree with Will Richardson (and probably you) that talking about predators, as we have done so much of in this country, is not the whole of online-safety education. It scares parents, tends to make them want to ban the Internet, which sends kids underground, where they miss out on the kind of loving, engaged parenting that can really help. In fact, I've recently written that I think online-safety education as we've been practicing it is becoming obsolete. Glad to send you notes from a talk I gave at Google on this. All best,
Anne
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Anne Collier
ConnectSafely co-director |
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onthekidsside
Posts:
3
From:
UK
Registered:
8/26/08
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'The parents fault - not' the role of the police in esafety
Nov 7, 2008 8:04 AM
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Hi Anne, I do not know if the below comment in your recent posting is reflective of your view or the general populace of the US but it certainly appears negative towards the Police.
"Richardson thought not, but the solution is not the one-shot "parent awareness night" or "some type of scary Internet predator presentation by a state policeman."
I have been involved in the presentation of esafety awareness nights across the South West Uk for some time now and have presented to aprox 5,000 parents. The main thrust of the presentation, co presented with an educationalist (www.swgfl.org.uk), is in fact very positive. We focus a great deal on the technology, how enabling it is and how the children use and adapt it. Our favourite saying is 'dialogue' in encouraging parents to talk to their kids about how they use the Internet and give them methods to deal with some of the issues without being prohibitive.
I do not apologise in any manner for the scary bits I include. I witness at first hand the methods of the predators and view the abhorent child abuse images freely available to those who know where to find them. I agree with the premise that the real way to go is to educate the children themselves in how to use the technology and web space available to them in a manner that keeps them safe. That however is utopia and in the real world every little bit of properly balanced advice to parents I believe is very valuable whether from the Police or elsewhere. Sometimes it may take a police officer to make valid points that strike home.
I would be interested in how your readers see the Police role in esafety if they see one at all?
Thanks
Alan - A UK police officer.
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