Pandora’s Blog

No this article doesn’t use scare tactics and blow things out of proportion – it is a story about what local cops are doing to deal with a real threat. Yes, it is real.

Just because a lot of people aren’t heroin addicts, doesn’t mean it’s not a problem.

Know what I mean?

The bottom line is that parents just need to be aware. And you can either play the guessing game or you can use tools to know for sure. Trust by verify.

Do you know who your children are chatting with?

A 45-year-old, twice-convicted sex offender signs on to the internet at his apartment in Jacksonville.

He’s “shopping” for his next young victim and she just might be your daughter right here in Charlton County. What’s worse, the teen might be making it easy for the felon to find her.

Local teens can become targets for predators, according to Folkston Police Chief Wesley Green, and not even know they are doing it.

A recent case here in Folkston has made the lawman even more concerned about internet safety than he already was. And, while all turned out well in that instance and the girl returned home unharmed, Green thinks parents should pay more attention to what their children are doing while surfing the web.

“We had one case here not too long ago, where I called a mother and told her she needed to check her daughter’s My Space page,” the chief says. “She didn’t even know what My Space was. I had to explain it to her.”

My Space, Facebook and others are social networking websites with interactive networks of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music, and videos for teenagers and adults.

A quick check of the sites and, in this small community, you can easily find a youngster you recognize. Dozens of local teens have their own, personalized pages.

“I don’t want to tend anyone else’s business, but parents need to be aware of just what information their children are putting out there for anyone to see,” says Chief Green. “In some cases, they list where they go to school, what kind of car they drive, even phone numbers.”

His list of info that should not be included on websites or given out while chatting includes all those items, plus age, afterschool activities or club/sports affiliations and favorite hangouts or restaurants. He also recommends making My Space pages private and never chatting with anyone you don’t already know.

Green says he checks My Space a couple of times a week and is concerned about a lot of what he sees there.

“I see ugly talk. I’ve seen girls that are half naked,” the chief says. “These girls may not realize how a sexual predator might respond to that. Some have listed they are 17 or 18 years old and I know they’re only 12 or 15.”

With eight unincarcerated, registered sex offenders living in Charlton County, and many more in the surrounding area, the lawman doesn’t think he’s being overly cautious.

While sites like My Space and Facebook can be interesting, informative, useful and fun (Governor Sonny Perdue and Barack Obama have My Space pages.) they need to be monitored when used by minors he says.

“Parents need to see the website for themselves and decide if they want their kids on there,” Green says, “and then check it on a regular basis.”

He also recommends computers be kept in areas of the home where use can be easily monitored and that parents check their youngsters’ browsing history frequently.

“You can also buy good security programs out there for as little as a couple of dollars a month,” Green says, “but nothing beats keeping an eye on your kids.”

Everyone, no matter their age, can benefit from taking internet safety measures.

“It’s not just kids,” he says. “We’ve had problems with adults misrepresenting themselves to other adults on the web and there’s always identity theft. You need to be careful about the information you are giving out and especially about meeting with people you know only from the internet.”

Membership is required to browse My Space or Facebook to see if your child has a page. Setting up an account is free and only takes a couple of minutes.

Users enter an e-mail address, name and password and are then allowed to search for other members. Members can search for “friends” by age, sex, body type, height, school, name, interests and several other categories.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 19th, 2009 at 8:30 AM and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.