Take steps to prevent cyber bullying

As people gathered at Richard McKenna Charter High School earlier this month to take part in the Bridging the Gap program, the practical insight and guidance it presented seemed to hit me on a personal level. A lot of it involves the news reports I continue reading each week regarding the need to do more to keep children and teenagers safe in today’s ever-changing world.

Most of it deals with the growing number of these youngsters gaining access to social media. In many cases, they don’t seem to understand the possible dangers it presents to each of them as well as others across the United States.

I do appreciate how Officer David Gomez took time on Saturday to use his high-impact, no-nonsense presentation to help students and parents in our community gain a more thorough understanding regarding these various online dangers. His unique blend of honesty, humor, storytelling and real-world experiences represent the way to help these people never forget the messages he offered.

During his 15-plus years as a school resource officer along with nearly two decades in law enforcement, Gomez often saw firsthand what kids today face online long before their parents or teachers ever hear about it. From hidden Snapchat “vaults” to AI “boyfriends” as well as the latest “sextortion scams,” he remains “in the trenches” every single day to provide these students with the information and guidance they need to avoid becoming victims to this type of cyber bullying and violence.

The officer’s presentation on Saturday came after I covered a similar event held at Mountain Home High School back in 2015. The featured speaker, also a school resource officer, dedicated time to highlight the need for Internet safety as well as the dangers associated with bullying.

That presentation focused heavily on the increasing use of social media outlets by registered sex offenders and other predators that use sites like Facebook and Instagram to select potential victims. It’s something that’s becoming more common in today’s society.

As I listened to that presentation in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium, this police officer illustrated how easy it gets for predators to target unsuspecting teens. Two months after he became the school resource officer at Mountain View High School, for example, he created a fake account on Facebook pretending he was a high school student.

In a very short amount of time, he had 400 individuals that “friended” him online, none of whom actually knew him.

It took just 30 seconds to create a fake account, this officer told the students at our high school. He then asked the teens seated in the audience to consider how long it takes for an online predator to do the same.

In 2014, meanwhile, this school resource officer created a second bogus Facebook account; this time posing as a 13-year-old girl. The photos and content of the messages he posted made it appear obvious he was this young teenage girl.

However, that didn’t deter a number of men that wanted to be online “friends,” this school resource officer told the students at our high school. Three of them were men ranging in age from their early 20s to mid-50s, who sent friend requests to the account this police officer created.

As his presentation continued in the high school gym, he emphasized none of these individuals had any connection to any members of his family or other direct ties. Simply put, online predators say whatever it takes to lure teens into being friends.

Among the examples he shared during that presentation back in 2015 involved a message he received from an individual claiming they were serving with the Marine Corps in Afghanistan. The content of the initial messages indicated this person sought to reach out to others looking for someone to talk to.

But within 15 minutes of striking up a conversation to the female teen profile the school resource officer had set up, this individual already asked if “she” could send him nude photos.

Over time, this man arranged to meet with the “teen” at a park in Meridian. Instead, this suspect was met instead by police officers, who determined this criminal was actually a homeless individual using the computers at the Meridian Public Library to stalk 200 to 300 girls in the local community every day.

Police then arrested that person and charged him with a felony count of using the Internet to entice children with separate charges of exchanging nude photos with two other female teens. I seriously doubt that man will never step foot in today’s society ever again.

However, this was just one in a number of similar cases the school resource officer told the students during that presentation. He highlighted how police in Meridian arrested a number of cyber-stalkers in recent years that included a 40-year-old man with two prior convictions for raping children.

In most cases, these predators remain in their homes constantly searching for potential victims, and many of them don’t live in Idaho. During that presentation back in 2015, the school resource officer mentioned cases where police arrested a 25-year-old man from Ohio and a 38-year-old man from Oklahoma, both of whom deliberately targeted young girls living in Idaho.

But predators don’t necessarily target young teenage girls, the officer said. They now use online games like Minecraft to lure children as young as six to take nude photos of themselves with promises of receiving rewards for their cooperation.

Over the years, “sexting” continues to represent a significant problem in today’s society. Consider how nearly half of all high school-age girls sent sexually explicit images to someone they knew online 10 years ago.

However, once these teens post these photos online, those images never go away. During that program at the high school, the school resource officer highlighted a criminal case where a predator tried to extort money from one victim, who had posted nude photos of herself six years prior.

Ultimately, it’s up to parents to set the rules when their children access online resources. It’s important for parents to monitor their children, set the rules and boundaries and know what they are doing.

These rules and boundaries represent a way for parents to keep their children safe from the dangers of bullying, which remains an ongoing problem in schools in Mountain Home and communities across the United States. It’s only worsened in recent years due to the advent of online technology that makes this type of bullying significantly worse.

Simply put, the more friends children and teens have online, the more chances they will get bullied. However, the easiest way to deal with these online predators comes down to one simple step: Block these individuals from these online sites and delete the hateful comments they post.

– Brian S. Orban