“Do you guys know what your children and or grandchildren are watching on the computer?”
The question was posed by Detective Cass Collins of the Special Investigations Division, Computer Crimes Unit of the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office at a recent Boca Raton Computer Club meeting at the South County Civic Center.

The law enforcement officer presented a strong, clear message, providing examples of the dangers lurking not only in youngster’s computers, but on cell phones as well.

Born and raised in Mississippi, Detective Collins poses as a young teen ager on her computer to receive invitations from predators on line to engage in sexual acts; the goal being to arrest the perps whenever possible.

She encouraged parents and grandparents to let kids know what dangers are out there and pointed out the risks: Predators pose as other children on websites known to be frequented by youngsters. They can be male or female, any age and any profession. One in five kids is solicited on line. The predators engage in what is termed in law enforcement as “grooming”—on line enticement by offering attention and affection, sending money or gifts and persuading the children to keep their relationship on line with the predator a secret from their parents and others.

Detective Collins showed a film case history of a young girl who was retaliating against her parents. She became involved on line with a male who went from becoming a friend on line to her best friend. “I trusted him above anything,” said the child. When she ran away with him she discovered he was a 56 year old man. After spending three weeks with him she escaped and returned home. The predator was caught and sent to jail for 25 years. “I will never run away again,” the youngster said.

Detective Collins demonstrated how within 20 minutes of diligent searching of various sites available to everyone on the web a predator can locate the family name, address and phone number of anyone.

Collins also speaks at local schools and urges youngsters to “think before you post personal information on the internet. Be careful of the social networking sites such as Facebook, Bebo and internet bulletin boards.” She urged parents and grandparents to open their own My Space account so they can access their offspring’s account simply by entering their name to see what the youngster is placing on the internet in their space. There can be real life consequences to a child’s profiles and blogs on the web. Not only are they viewed by friends and relatives, but predators are also cruising the web to find their next victim.

“We run across every kind of malevolent material on the internet,” said Collins. “Besides pornography and hateful, racist, violent content; there are details of illegal activity, such as where to buy drugs, available to anyone.

Detective Collins concluded by citing success stories of predators caught. She recommends that parents establish rules for internet use for their children. “Communicate with your children. Specify which sites they can visit, and place the youngster’s computer in a family area where the parent can observe what the child is watching or participating in while on the internet.”

Take it to heart. This is a serious current problem.
Mort M.

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