Parents and staff of the Don Juan Avila Middle School in Aliso Viejo met with the High Tech Services Reserve Unit’s Internet Safety team for two hours on March 4th. School principal Chris Carter and OSCD Chief of Police Services Rich Paddock set the tone with assurances that the kids have been doing pretty well this year, but it’s important for parents to be watchful and involved to keep their kids safe. Investigative Assistant Ann Guba described the investigations process and assured parents that a range of non-judicial options are available for supportive parents of kids who get in trouble. The internet safety team then provided an overview briefing by PSR John Carlyle and a live, interactive demo of internet hotspots by Res Dep Josh Money. PSR Frank Columbus provided demos of wireless monitoring tools.
The team introduced common problems encountered by many families including identity theft, bullying, hacking, piracy, and the worst fear of many parents – sexual predators. Many activities that seem harmless to the uninitiated parent can indeed be a harbinger of risky behavior by kids. Likewise, the curious, sociable, modern youngster may exhibit innocent behaviors that seem pretty scary to some parents. The Internet Safety team recommended that the parents investigate the Internet Safety information sites identified by the team and encouraged them to get accounts on the social web sites such as MySpace.com and spend some time navigating through them. This will give the parents an understanding of the complex activities so many modern kids routinely engage in and put them in a much better position to help their kids avoid problems. For more information, see http://www.ocsd.org and click the Internet Safety Program link under Public Information. The brochure there will give the interested parent good starting points for learning more about these activities.
If you would like to have the team present to your group, contact Res. Sgt. Ellis by e-mail at jaellis@ocsd.org or by phone at (310) 335-4269.