The Iowa Task Force on Internet Crimes Against Children is launching a new website that aims to educate parents on how to prevent on-line crimes before they happen. The website’s main feature is a cyber tip link, where parents can alert officials about a potential on-line threat. Criminal investigator Mike Ferjak says the site can help parents educate themselves and their kids about on-line risks.
“We want to focus on what the proactive measures can be,” Ferjak says. “By the time you call the task force or the police department, something bad has already happened. This is our effort to get proactive, to get the information out there before there’s a tragedy.” Iowa
Attorney General Tom Miller says the new website offers tips on talking to teens and kids. Miller says it will make parents the front line of defense against child predators and other on-line risks. “The whole idea is prevention,” Miller says. “Once a crime has taken place, that’s a very serious matter and a very harmful one. So the main thrust here is to let people know what they should be looking for, how they should be dealing with their kids, what their kids should know, having their kids on this site as well.”
The site features safety tips for children as young as five all the way through high school. It also provides information about the legal consequences of sexting, which can result in serious charges for young people who make or send sexual messages by phone or on-line. The address for the Internet Crimes Against Children website is: “www.iaicac.org“.