Bridging the gap

Online predators use the Internet to lure children, but now two local police officers are using the same tool to teach kids how to protect themselves.

Det. Const. Sherry Heyder and Det. Const. Tammy Reynolds are responsible for criminal matters involving youth. A cubical wall separates their desks at the police station and isolates them from the other officers. This is where they do most of the work for the Kids N’ Cops website – an online and local initiative where police chat with children in an effort to make officers more approachable.

When Heyder walked her beat, rarely would a child come up to her and just chat. She said with the website there is a complete flip as kids come online just to talk to her and Reynolds.

"It is getting a lot easier to get access to kids online," Heyder said. "More kids are spending more and more time online. Their awareness of what information is safe to give out is lacking."

The website is an easier way for children under 18 to connection police in a non-threatening environment— the anonymity of the web and a user name. However, both detectives screen every single person when signing up to the forum.

Despite the anonymous atmosphere a user name provides, Heyder and Reynolds say they know who everyone is on the site.

Since teenagers and children are open on the Internet, it has helped Thunder Bay Police Service to charge people for criminal offences.

Heyder said a local 34-year-old-man charged with Internet luring tried to get close to a 15-year-old-girl looking for someone to go with her to a cartoon convention by posting information on Kijiji.

Heyder added that the girl didn’t want to tell anyone about what had happened. She went onto the Kids N’ Cops chatroom and asked questions, which caught Heyder’s attention.

"I thought you sound like you know a little bit more than what you are talking about so why don’t you tell me what’s going on?" She asked. "She finally came out with her story and said my parents don’t know, nobody knows and I wasn’t going to tell anybody. I said this is something that really needs to be looked at."

The girl gave Heyder chat logs between her and the accused and police were able to identify the man, who is currently before the courts.

Heyder and Reynolds regularly check their Black Berry because of all the questions asked by the 500 members.

Th detectives say they are concerned when children open up too much too quickly when chatting with them.

"It scares us to bits. If they are willing to share that information with us…whom else are they giving that information to," she said.

Some of the more popular video games have access to the Internet. Some online games require creating an account. This information includes location, age, gender and sometimes creating a custom avatar.

A Statistics Canada study shows 464 incidents of child luring over the Internet reported to police across Canada from 2006 to 2007.

Heyder said the point of the website was to bring awareness to these dangers and educate on what is appropriate information to give out.

Reynolds became involved with Kids N’ Cops around last January. She said she learned quickly on now to bridge the gap between police and teenagers. He started building relationships with the kids online by finding common ground. She started getting to know one boy who she discovered liked music. As it turns out both of them play the trumpet.

"It’s challenging," Reynolds said. "So far so good. It’s different and a big learning curve."

Tom Walters, executive director with Thunder Bay Children’s Centre Foundation, said the website has created an outlet for children in trouble to connect with responsible adults.

Walters said the overall impression he had on the website was it had positive influences on children needing help. Both Heyder and Reynolds have knowledge of other social services around town and for them to be able to direct a child to one of those services is beneficial, he said.

"They try their best to deal with it themselves," Walters said. "Obviously they aren’t trained mental health professionals. There are kids who are struggling and are just kind of lost and having an adult to talk to who cares is extremely positive."

Members can chat live from Monday to Friday from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.