FORT CARSON, Colo. -- It's every parent's nightmare -- a teenage child meets a man from Denver online and gives him personal information, phone number, email address, physical address.
School resource officer Felipe Nardo received a call from the mother, wondering what to do. He advised her to change the email address and phone numbers.
"I told Mom, just be aware," he said. "Nothing else has happened."
It's a scenario that's easily prevented by taking a few simple steps and educating children.
"The parents should be educating their children on (information) you don't ever tell anyone online," said Torie Newton, SRO, Fort Carson police. That includes any personal information -- address, phone number, email address and information about parents or siblings.
"Just keep it basic, first name," she said. "If they want to go further, they should probably talk to their parents and see how their parents feel about it."
Computers should be kept in an open area of the house, such as a family room or living room.
"It doesn't take much to walk by the computer. There's just not enough parents that do that," Newton said. "They just let them go to their room or to the office or wherever and do whatever because then, they're out of their hair."
Parents should use parental controls; know their children's passwords for sites, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram; and check the browser history on a regular basis, she said.
"It's not going in every day to spy on the kids. That's not what we're saying to do, but you pop in there once a week and just look over things. At least you have an idea what your children are doing," Newton said.
If parents aren't knowledgeable about computers and aren't sure how to use parental controls or check history, they can get help from the SRO, she said.
Children also need to remember to always log off when they visit social networking sites. If they use a smartphone and it's lost or stolen, other people can post pictures or write updates that could cause problems, Newton said.
Anything related to bullying or harassment should be printed out and given to an SRO so it can be resolved. Most often officers say they've seen threats in texts, emails or online messaging.
In Colorado there are no cyber bullying laws yet, but they can still be charged with harassment, she said.
"A lot of kids don't realize that they can be charged with (harassment) because they think, oh, it's on the computer," Newton said.
The permanence of their online activities is another important lesson.
"Children need to be told, whatever you put out there in the cyber world is out there forever," she said. "There is no going back on there and deleting it and thinking you took it off."
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