Additional Information Child Safety at Home Child Safety on the Internet A Safe Halloween

Child Safety on the Internet

Guidelines for Parents

• Make it a family rule to never give out identifying information—home address, school name or telephone number—on public chat Web Sites or bulletin boards; and be sure you're dealing with someone that both you and your child know and trust before giving out this information via e-mail.
• Get to know the Internet and any services your child uses.
• Never allow a child to arrange a face-to-face meeting with another computer user without parental permission and supervision.
• Never respond to messages or bulletin board items that are suggestive, obscene, belligerent, threatening or make you feel uncomfortable.
• Encourage your children to tell you if they encounter such messages.
• Talk with your children about what they can and cannot do online.
• Check out blocking, filtering and ratings. Realize that filtering programs can't protect your child from all dangers in cyberspace. Filtering programs are not a substitute for good judgment or critical thinking. With or without filters, kids and their parents need to be Internet savvy.
• Consider keeping the computer in a family room rather than a child's bedroom.
• Get to know your children's online friends just as you get to know all of their other friends.

National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
See also www.safekids.com and www.safeteens.com

If You Suspect a Crime

• Albuquerque Police Department's Child Exploitation Detail @ 761-4060
• 24-hour child pornography tip line, (800) 843-5678 and Cyber Tipline, www.cybertipline.com , maintained by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
• U.S. Customs Service Investigates the importation and trafficking of child pornography. Its jurisdiction includes smuggling via the Internet, (800) 232-5378.

Additional Information

• National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, Alexandria, VA, (800) 843-5678.
• Office for Victims of Crime, U.S. Department of Justice, (202) 616-3585 or at www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/
• National Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families, www.nationalcoalition.org
• www.privacyrights.org "Children in Cyberspace" fact sheet.
• www.cyberangels.org includes "Internet 101, Understanding Cyberspace.

APD Crime Prevention 924-3600