Police, province recognize International Safer Internet Day by sharing safety tips for parents

A person typing on their keyboard is seen in this file photo.

On a day dedicated to keeping online safety top of mind, police and provincial government officials are reminding parents of the best ways to ensure their children are handling the internet and anything that can come with it, safely.

ALERT’s Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) units said last year, their members investigated more than 440 new cases of internet-related child exploitation, and laid more than 300 charges against a total of 72 people in Alberta.

According to ICE, investigators are seeing more and more cases that involve image sharing over the internet, in addition to online luring.

Officials shared the following tips, to help reduce the risk of a child or teen being lured over the internet:

Officials with ICE also said youth should generally avoid sharing images through text messages, e-mails or social media – since once it’s out there; the youth has no control over it.

“Issues related to ‘sexting’ are something we are seeing more frequently,” S/Sgt. Greg Johnson of ALERT’s ICE Unit south said in a press release. “With young people not understanding the consequences of sending, receiving or forwarding nude or explicit images.”

Investigators said pictures are never completely removed from the internet, and creating, possessing and distributing sexually explicit images of a person under the age of 18 is illegal – and can result in criminal charges.

“When you share a nude or explicit image of someone under the age of 18, you are sexually exploiting that person, and can be charged with child pornography offences,” Johnson said. “Our intent here is not to scare kids, but to make them think twice before they share these types of images.”

In addition, the province has created an internet safety training course for parents.

The course is made up of a number of modules, aimed at educating adults about cyber bullying, social media and sexual exploitation – and will constantly change as technology develops.

“Our children are going to learn the tools faster than we are because they’re more naturally attuned to it,” Minister of Human Services Dave Hancock said. “So we’re not going to stay ahead of them, but we do need to be aware of the dangers that are out there.

“The fact that they’re not static, the fact is that they do develop on an ongoing basis and we need to be aware of that.”

The website cost $168,000 to develop, and can be found by following this link.

More safety tips and information, along with links to a number of resources can be found on ALERT’s website.

Tips from the public on online sexual exploitation of children can be submitted on cybertip.ca.