Cyberbullying, Online Predators: Maple Place School Parents Learn the Truth

Detective Richard Shin of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s office came to Maple Place School on Tuesday, March 15 to speak about the dangers of online predators, internet scams, and cyberbullying. 

Detective Shin works within the Computer Crimes Unit, which specializes in online investigations and computer-related forensic analysis. The unit works with local and state police departments, as well as with federal agencies such as the FBI and the postal service. 

At 9 a.m., Detective Shin spoke with the fifth through eighth grade students about his work, and how to behave appropriately on the internet; at 6:30 p.m. Detective Shin presented a parental workshop on monitoring their children’s online activity in order to prevent future computer crimes. 

Shin explained how most of what comes across his desk could have been prevented if only the person behind the screen thought before clicking the button on their mouse. 

“Digital is forever,” Detective Shin said.  When something is posted on the internet, it cannot always be completely eradicated because someone could have copied the image or information and sent it to others, or they could have taken a screen shot and saved the material. 

Most of the children Detective Shin comes into contact with, whether they be suspect or victim, always explain that they did not think anything bad would come of their behavior, or that they did not realize the internet was real. 

Many adolescents, who have grown up with technology, have no real grasp on the nature of the internet and other technology because it has become second nature to them. 

“More people communicate through Facebook now then through text messages,” Detective Shin said. 

But, putting too much personal information about yourself on the internet makes you a prime target for online predators. 

“Technology is something that is a powerful tool that can be used for good reasons, or also abused. And the same reason that there is a driving age and a legal drinking age, kids should really be mature enough to handle the technology that they are provided,” Shin said. 

Detective Shin went on to further explain how technology should not be relied upon as a “babysitter” or as a reward, but as something potentially dangerous. The children who are left alone with the technology are the ones who get in the most trouble, because they are usually unaware of how powerful that technology is. 

The Computer Crimes Unit investigates online predators both reactively and proactively.  The unit is reactive by conducting investigations when they are contacted by the authorities about a predator meeting with a minor. However, the unit also takes a proactive approach by pretending to be eleven or twelve year-old children in order to ensnare a predator. The members of the unit are specially trained in how to do this by learning about the mindset of the predator and how they go about victimizing a child. 

The members of the unit will set up a profile pretending to be a child and within minutes they are contacted by predators. 

“We’ll tell them that we are twelve years-old, and before you know they will send us a live stream of themselves masturbating, getting into very graphic, detailed, explicit chat, and we always go the route of trying to resist and reminding them that we are only twelve years-old--and that doesn’t matter,” Shin said. 

Cyberbullying is another very harmful, and very prominent part of internet and cell phone abuse. There are many ways children can bully others: exclusion, impersonation, ridicule, spreading rumors, and so on. 

“Sexting” or the trading of explicit pictures through the internet or cell phone is also a problem, as well as a tool for cyber-bullies. Not only is the content illegal if the picture is of a minor, but naive kids have been known to use these pictures to blackmail others, send them to classmates, or post them on the internet. 

This type of behavior leads to severe depression in youths, and in many tragic cases the embarrassment of a photograph being exposed or the constant ridicule via the internet has lead to suicide. 

 So what can be done?

•  Keep your computer in a common area, such as the living room, and allow your child only a certain amount of time on the internet
•  Filter dangerous websites and chat rooms so that your child cannot see unsafe content
•  Know your child’s user name and password to all of their social networking sites and e-mail address
•  Restrict who your child can contact online, many instant messaging systems can block messages from unknown people
•  Check your child’s cell phone bill to know who they are talking to and read their text messages when you can
•  Create a generic user name or profile name 
•  Do not disclose any personal information in your profile, (online predators use that information to track you down)
•  Restrict who can see your profile on your social networking sites, tighten security so no stranger can see information about you
•  Install monitoring programs such as NetNanny which will tell you what websites your child has visited or Spector Pro which records what your child has been doing on the internet, including: chat conversations, e-mails sent and received, websites visited, downloads, and pictures posted. 
•  Purchase cell-phone monitoring devices such as My Mobile Watchdog, which sends you your child’s text messages and a list of their calls
•  Assess your child’s maturity level and see if they are responsible enough to handle the technology
•  Tell your child about the dangers of online predators, and the permanence of everything done on the internet

 “If we don’t think that this is happening in Oceanport, in Monmouth Beach, in Sea Bright, in West Long Branch, with all due respect I think we have our heads in the sand.” Maple Place School Principal Cory Radisch said. “Our kids have so much access to the internet, whether it is on their phone, multiple computers in the home, and it is something that we do need to be more aware of and even a little bit frightened of what’s out there.”