Two area police agencies have expanded their reach through technology in hopes of protecting area children from online predators.
The Herkimer and Mohawk Police Departments have each created MySpace profiles to scare off potential online predators.
“With nearly 230 million MySpace profiles worldwide, this unique program empowers local youth with MySpace profiles to protect themselves online,” said Chief Joseph M. Malone, who is chief of both departments, in a press release.
Both departments are reaching out to youths and their parents with the new service that will add a layer of protection by encouraging children to add either police department as their “number one friend” on the popular social networking site.
According to a national Internet poll of teens age 13 to 18 referred to in the release, 54 percent frequently communicated online with someone they had never met in person, 27 percent had talked online about sex with someone they never met, 33 percent discussed meeting someone they met on the Internet and 42 percent posted personal information which would enable someone to find them.
The poll also showed one in eight teens had an online “friend” who was an adult pretending to be younger.
Both departments are encouraging parents to consider the idea of adding either department to their children’s top “friends list.” The list shows up on the user’s profile with photo of the “friend.” Once either department is added to the list, a patch from the department will appear, and act as a visual deterrent to predators.
If a youth still receives inappropriate messages, the youth can contact the police through MySpace mediums, such as e-mail, to report the incident. Once the department receives the report, police can act on the information and take appropriate action if warranted.
Both departments will monitor their respective sites daily.
The concept was made possible in part with the technical assistance of SEARCH, the National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics, a nonprofit organization based in Sacramento, Calif., that provides training to all levels of law enforcement relating to online, high tech and cell phone investigations. For more information on SEARCH, visit www.search.org.
To add the departments, go to www.myspace.com/herkimerpd or www.myspace.com/mohawkpd.