Florida Attorney General McCollum Brings CyberSafety into Florida Schools

Goal is to educate every middle and high school student on cybersafety

September 5, 2007 -- TALLAHASSEE, FL – Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced that beginning this fall, the Child Predator CyberCrime Unit will take the Attorney General’s cybersafety program into schools statewide. Speaking to students, teachers and school superintendents at Rampello Downtown Partnership School in Tampa, Attorney General McCollum stressed the importance of teaching Florida’s children about cybersafety.

“Our goal is to provide a comprehensive online personal safety program for all students in Florida and empower them to recognize, avoid and report instances of predators attempting to exploit them through the Internet,” said Attorney General Bill McCollum. “As technology continues to evolve and have a more significant role in our children’s lives, we must take every precaution to keep them safe. That process begins with education and outreach.”

In partnership with the Florida Association of District School Superintendents and with the support of both the Florida School Resource Officers Association (SRO) and the Florida Sheriffs Association, the Attorney General’s victim advocates will present the 50-minute cybersafety program in public and private middle and high schools throughout the state. Designed to empower children to use the Internet safely, the program combines real-life stories and examples to help students identify the ways they could be victimized online as well as important safety tips to protect themselves from internet child predators.

The Attorney General’s Office cybersafety program will specifically target middle and high school students and will endeavor to educate them about online personal safety. During the presentations, the students will receive information about internet dangers as well as the tactics used by online predators. They will also learn what constitutes a cybercrime and how to report it. An open line of communication between the students and the victim advocates will be strongly encouraged to give the opportunity for private disclosure. Students will be taught how to recognize when a friend is in “cyber danger” and what they can do to help. The victim advocates will offer counseling to any child who discloses victimization and can refer any reported offenses to law enforcement for investigation.

In March, the Attorney General and the Florida Association of District School Superintendents have formed a partnership aimed at educating students on cybersafety, focusing on planing, constructing, and maintaining the Attorney General’s CyberSafety Educational Initiative. Attorney General McCollum emphasized the importance of the support provided by the District School Superintendents noting they will be instrumental in helping reach Florida’s school children with the message of cybersafety, which was echoed by the Florida Association of District School Superintendents.

"Florida's superintendents are eager to be a part of this creative and much needed approach to ensure the safety of our children. We applaud the Attorney General in his efforts and are excited about the partnership,” said Bill Montford, Chief Executive Officer of the Florida Association of District School Superintendents. “Our children will be better prepared to deal with the potential dangers of encountering predators through the internet."

The Florida Association of School Resource Officers has also committed its support to the Attorney General’s efforts. The SRO Program is a collaborative effort by certified law enforcement officers, educators, students, parents and the community to offer law related educational programs in the schools. The purpose of the program is to reduce crime, drug abuse and violence and provide a safe school environment.

“I commend Attorney General McCollum for placing such a high priority on our children’s safety,” said Robert Tricquet, president, Florida School Resource Officers Association. “The association is committed to supporting the Office of the Attorney General to ensure Florida students are provided with the information needed to keep them safe while online.” The administrators of the school program will share appropriate information with the school resource officers in the local schools so they can keep their eyes and ears open to potential "hot spots." They can then focus on those students and their specific concerns.

To compliment the school program, the Child Predator CyberCrime Unit has also developed the Internet Student Advisory Council, designed to match technology-savvy teenagers with the unit’s cybercrime law enforcement team. The unit’s investigators will work closely with the students to identify new and popular internet trends, including those that could be potentially harmful to young people. Using information provided by the student advisors, presenters will speak to kids in their own language and empower them to protect themselves and one another.

CyberSafety Background: Launch of Educational Awareness Campaign

In May, Attorney General McCollum’s office launched a new cybersafety website, located at http://www.safeflorida.net/safesurf, to provide valuable information to adults, teens and kids about staying safe while surfing the internet. The SafeSurf children’s page includes several entertaining and educational games that teach internet safety. The teen SafeSurf page offers tips on safeguarding personal information and avoiding dangerous situations. It also provides a forum for stories from teenagers who were victimized on the internet. The web page for adults offers a guide to popular internet language used in chat rooms and gives safety advice on how to monitor what your children are doing on the internet. Since its inception in May, more than 9,000 people have visited the Attorney General’s SafeSurf website.

New Laws, Stricter Penalties, and the Expansion of the Child Predator CyberCrime Unit

This spring, the CyberCrimes Against Children Act of 2007 was passed by the Florida Legislature and signed into law by the Governor.Championed by Attorney General McCollum, this law now positions Florida as a national leader in the legal fight against child pornography and the internet solicitation of children. The new law increases penalties for the possession or distribution of child pornography online and creates a new, separate penalty for internet predators who communicate with a child online and then travel to meet that child for the specific purpose of further sexually abusing him or her.

In addition to increasing the penalties for the possession and distribution of child pornography and for those who travel to meet children, the law also increases penalties for offenders who misrepresent their age to seduce a child over the internet. This behavior, known as “grooming,” is intended to make a child believe the offender is closer in age to the child, therefore encouraging the child to feel more comfortable conversing with the offender. The new law also gives the Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution jurisdiction to prosecute child pornography and internet child sexual abuse cases.

The Office of the Attorney General partners with the Florida Sheriffs’ Association, and Sheriffs’ offices statewide, in a collaborative effort to bring those who prey on our children online to justice. The association was extremely supportive of the Attorney General’s efforts in passing the CyberCrimes Against Children Act of 2007 and continues to support the efforts of his office.

“Attorney General McCollum has appropriately put the issue of online child predators to the forefront where it belongs,” said Baker Sheriff Joey Dobson, President of the Florida Sheriffs Association. “These are sick individuals who prey on our children’s innocence and with tougher laws and stronger penalties we will now be better armed in our fight to stop them.”

The Office of the Attorney General also received funding to expand the Child Predator CyberCrime Unit across the state. Over the next year, they will begin opening new units with 50 additional cybercrime staff dedicated to investigating, arresting and prosecuting internet child predators and child pornographers. For more information on the Attorney General’s cybersafety initiative, please visit http://www.SafeFlorida.net.

Source: Florida Attorney General