Police urge parents to have a cyber safe talk with kids

Parents are being urged to have a “cyber safety talk” with their children and issue a “user contract” before buying their youngster a mobile phone.

Snr Constable Rob Paterson and Snr Constable Jason Roughley youth officers at The Hills LAC are urging parents to have the “cyber safety” talk with their children

Parents are being urged to have a “cyber safety talk” with their children and issue a “user contract” before buying their youngster a mobile phone.

Snr Constable Rob Paterson, Youth Liaison Officer at The Hills LAC said cyber bullying was the number one priority for parents and schools in the Hills LAC, taking up 75 per cent of his work at the 65 schools in the command.

His talks are starting with students in Years 3 as many students were getting mobile phones at the age of eight.

“Cyber bullying and unsafe online behaviour is a huge problem in primary school because so many parents allow their children to be on social media such as Instagram and Snapchat well below the age limit of 13.

Senior Constable Rob Paterson giving a cyber safety talk to primary age students.

“I have seen a huge increase in anxiety and mental health issues with teens and teens, “ he said..

“This can often be tied to no rules around phones or social media and no understanding by parents.

“Most young people have Instagram accounts where they follow people they do not know or communicate with in real life, leaving them open to bullying and grooming behaviours.”

“A recent trend has seen children as young as 11 telling others to harm themselves as a method of bullying. This is incredibly distressing to the child receiving it as well as the parents, who are understandably seeking police advice.”

He said many parents were not finding time to have ‘the talk’ about electronic media with their children which was just as important as the puberty talk.

“Society seems to think mobile phones are a requirement not a privilege, and many parents like to appease their children or be their friend rather than a parent unfortunately,” he said.

“Gaming addiction or playing games online that are not age- appropriate is also a disturbing trend and this can lead to increases in domestic violence or school refusal in serious cases.”

“My message to parents is: `keep your lines of communication open. Taking the device away is not the solution.

“You have to talk to children about why you are taking it away.

“Children need boundaries.

“If you are giving them a phone give them an internet contract and a phone safety contract which can be downloaded”.

The message to students is: “think before you post”.

“You are never anonymous online.”

“High school students do not seem to understand that cyberspace is a public place, no matter how ‘privately’ and account is set up,” he said.

Serious recent incidents revolve around young people accessing “very violent or graphic sexual images” and sharing them, sometimes photoshopping videos or images to bully or distress others intentionally.

He said the intention of police is really to educate and prevent rather than react and charge young people with serious offences.

HELP

Parents can download an internet contract and a phone safety contract from the Federal Police — thinkuknow.org.au

Resources are also available from esafety.gov.au

LAW

Police can take action under the offence of “ using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence,” which is a Commonwealth offence and is contained in section 474.17 the Criminal Code Act 1995.

Young people can also be dealt with under the Young Offenders Act (1997).