Local law enforcement discuss online safety with kids

May 13—Having the world at your fingertips, such as the case with the internet, can often be a mixed bag for kids.

From finding help with algebra homework to playing games such as Roblox with your friends, the internet can be exciting, informational and fun.

But then there's also another side of the web.

From chat rooms on the "dark web" to adult predators preying on children, the internet can also be scary and dangerous.

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, over 21.7 million reports were made to the organization's Cyber Tip Line in 2020.

And per the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) website, the organization's nationwide task force programs in 2021 conducted more than 137,000 investigations related to child predators, which resulted in over 10,400 arrests.

It's not just a "somewhere over there" problem either, law enforcement points out, referring to those who think that smaller communities such as Kokomo are immune to those crimes.

Take Demetrius Carl Davis, for example. The Sacramento, California, man was arrested last month for his alleged involvement in a worldwide child pornography and exploitation investigation.

Seven of Davis' reported 100-plus victims are from Kokomo, all of them between 10-13 years of age.

And so it's coming off the heels of that recent case — along with others like it — that caused several local police officers to sit down earlier this week with dozens of middle and high schoolers to share safety tips and other information as it relates to technology and the internet.

Kokomo Police Department detectives Drew Wallsmith and Austin Bailey are both members of the department's Digital Crimes Unit, as well as officers on its ICAC task force.

In their talk with the students, the pair addressed everything from sharing personal information online to engaging in conversations with people you don't personally know.

Their message was pretty simple: Just be smart, and use common sense.

Dangers of oversharingBoth Wallsmith and Bailey admitted that it's easy these days for children and teens to get on applications and websites and speak with dozens of people all in the span of a couple minutes.

But not all of those people on the other side of the computer have the child's best interest at heart, they noted.

"It is very simple for somebody with bad intentions to create a profile showing themselves as a young 13- or 14-year-old boy or girl to try to interact with you," Wallsmith told the crowd of students, raising his voice to emphasize the importance of his words.

It was a little more than 10 minutes into the officers' safety talk, and they had already discussed the importance of creating unique passwords and disabling location services to ward off potential predators.

"They're (potential child predators) going to try to solicit information from you, trying to get your name, your age, where you live, that kind of stuff," Wallsmith added. "It's just important to protect your identity and who you are. Many of these guys, you don't know them. You have not seen them. Until you trust them, and definitely until it's verified as to who they are, don't ever tell them where you live, your full name or where you go to school."

Bailey agreed with Wallsmith, noting that child predators often rely on the naivety of children in order to be able to "groom" them into a conversation or relationship.

The officers then shared with the students a few tips and tricks when it comes to verifying a person's identity online.

"I want to start seeing some pictures," Bailey said. "Maybe tell them to take a picture of them holding up three fingers. That's a cool thing you can do to have somebody prove that's who they are sometimes. Can I go find a picture of a kid on the internet really quick and say that's who I am? Absolutely. But if somebody says, 'Take a picture now of you holding a fork," that's going to be harder to find."

The officers also noted that some applications and websites have minimum age requirements for a reason.

"Don't lie about how old you are to get access to these places," Wallsmith said. "Some of these places are not really presenting good material for anyone. Just stay away from that. It's kind of like if you know there's a dark alley where there is all sorts of drug dealing, fights and violence. You probably wouldn't go down that alley. It's the same thing with some websites."

Wallsmith and Bailey then used a case that happened locally to further get their point across.

During that particular case, Bailey posed online as a 12-year-old girl, he told the students, and he was eventually contacted by a man who lived out of town and was approximately 56 years old.

"I made contact with the individual, and he immediately sent me his location to have me meet up with him," Bailey said. "Obviously as a 12-year-old girl, I didn't have any wheels and couldn't drive. But within six days, he was convinced enough that I was a 12-year-old girl, and he had an idea of what he wanted to do with me. He then showed up here in town."

The man was eventually arrested, and during a search of his vehicle, officers located rolls of electrical tape, handcuffs and other material they believe he was going to use.

"This guy is now going to hopefully spend the rest of his life in prison just because of the stuff he did and the stuff he brought and what he said he wanted to do with this 12-year-old girl," Wallsmith said.

And while some children might think they wouldn't fall into such a trap, the officers noted that it's actually pretty easy to fall prey.

Then before you realize it, you're already in trouble.

But it's not just children the officers want to share their tips about online safety with.

What parents need to knowThe Tribune met up with Wallsmith and Bailey after the safety talk, and they both were adamant that parents and guardians play critical roles when it comes to helping keep children out of the hands of online predators.

"I put it like this," Wallsmith said, "a parent would not just let their child roam random streets in a different city by themselves. So parents should also have the same mentality when their children are using social media or doing other activities on the internet."

Wallsmith added that parents should also always know who their children are speaking with online or what websites they're visiting, noting that there are parental control programs and other software that can help in that process.

And keep the dialogue about your child's online usage open, honest and ongoing, Bailey said.

"The parent and child dynamic is different in each family," he said. "But most of the time, it's good to sit down and have a non-judgmental conversation with your child (about online safety). All of this is starting a lot younger now. Kids are getting cell phones a lot earlier, and they have access to video games or online gaming where there is a bigger prevalence for predators to reach these kids.

"So, it's just a good rule of thumb that if you're going to give your kids this type of access, keep a good eye on them and continue to talk with them about what they're doing or seeing online," Bailey added.

And if you suspect that your child might be involved in dangerous online activity, it's never too early to get law enforcement involved, both Wallsmith and Bailey noted.

Because, the pair admitted, it's better to be safe than sorry.

"The internet's a great thing," Wallsmith said. "There are friendships that can be made on it, relationships, educational research. It can be used for great purposes, but it can also unfortunately be used by people wanting to do some major harm."

Kim Dunlap can be reached at 765-860-3256 or at kim.dunlap@kokomotribune.com.