Local police, advocates warn parents of online dangers to teens
Associated Press
In the age of electronic communication, local police said parents need to monitor what their children are doing online.
Pat Mowen, educator at the Fayette County Crime Victims Center educates children and teens at area schools on cyber bullying as well as the dangers of sexually explicit texting and works with juveniles who face charges for misuse of a communication device. Officials recommended that parents monitor their childs’ mobile device use and establish rules to prevent them from becoming victims to online predators.
Trooper Lucas
Thalia Juarez | Herald-Standard
Uniontown City Police Lt. Tom Kolencik explains juveniles can be charged with misdemeanors for innapropriately sharing explicit photos of other juveniles. Kolencik says monitoring a childs’ mobile device use and setting rules does not make someone a “mean or bad parent” rather it’s important to take precautionary measures to ensure a child’s safety.
Technological savvy combined with naivete make children and teens easy targets for online predators, said local police and victims advocates.
“That’s where the danger comes in,” said Pat Mowen, prevention educator at the Fayette County Crime Victims Center.
She educates children and teens at area schools, saying her classes start as young as three on bullying and as young as 5th grade on sexually explicit texting.
Mowen is also a part of the diversionary program for juveniles facing charges regarding sexually explicit texts. She said she holds one-on-one sessions with the teens, who are often remorseful and did not understand the magnitude of their actions. She said she taught one group of four students together who participated in explicit texting with one another. One of those students left the class asking to teach other students about the consequences of his actions.
“There is remorse, in most cases,” she said. “They just don’t think.”
The Pennsylvania Crime Code recommends sending juveniles through a diversionary program before other forms of punishment.
Juveniles can be charged with misdemeanors for sending images of a juvenile age 12 or older under a charge of “transmission of sexually explicit images by a minor,” according to Uniontown City Police Lt. Tom Kolencik. The misdemeanor is graded at a level three for transmitting the images and a level two if intimidation or coercion is involved.
About two years ago, there was a serious problem in the city with juveniles committing these acts, he said. Once the teens realized the consequences, he said the explicit texts dwindled.
He said even if a juvenile simply goes through a diversionary program without facing other legal action, serious consequences can occur outside the court system. He said some seniors lost scholarships and many reputations were damaged.
“So it can have serious ramifications,” he said.
Officials recommended that parents act as detectives and establish solid rules to prevent their children from becoming victims to online predators, including setting a time limit for technology usage, securing passwords for downloading apps, researching new friends and monitoring online activity.
“I can’t emphasize enough, that’s not being a bad parent or a mean parent,” Kolencik said. “That’s being a great parent.”
State police Trooper Stefani Lucas, who teaches prevention classes to children, said she advises students not to put passwords on their devices so their parents can monitor their activity.
Kolencik recommended parents sign a contract with their children that establishes rules, time limits and a parents’ accessibility to the devices before allowing the child to have a device. Parents can give incentives for children to have more time online, or punishments that decrease time, he said.
He said some apps prevent a child from viewing pornographic websites and deleting calls or histories. Others allow parents to access histories even if it is deleted.
Lucas recommended parents review the safety settings on their children’s devices. Checking histories and researching apps a child downloads is important. She said some online gaming systems will allow strangers to talk to their child, even if the child is not aware of the option.
“We talk to kids about strangers on the Internet just like we talk about stranger danger in person,” she said. “They’re still strangers.”
She said a stranger asking a child to meet in person happens very frequently. Monitoring the child’s online activity is important, she said, but parents should be open with a child that they are going to monitor their activity. Parents can see if a child has deleted something by comparing the texts and calls to what appears on a phone bill, she said.
“I always tell kids that it’s not that we’re trying to get you in trouble. We’re trying to keep you safe,” she said.
The officers said to monitor children for changes in behavior, poor performance in school and fatigue, which can all be warning signs that a child is engaging in dangerous online activity. They recommended that parents research all of their children’s online friends, ask questions and be especially aware of a new friend that a child talks about frequently.
Predators can be any age or gender, Mowen said, and may even be known to the parent. She said it is not uncommon for an older woman to contact a younger boy, even though a woman may not be a parent’s first idea of a predator.
“It’s becoming more frequent,” she said. “These are so-called professionals who should know better.”
She said a teen receiving attention from an older person can feed a child’s attention-seeking needs, and they may not perceive it as a threat.
“Online predators often tell the kids what they want to hear,” she said. “They’re discovering their sexuality. It’s exciting. It’s flattering. That’s where discretion gets a little blurry.”