Virginia Beach, Va. (WTKR) - The Virginia Beach Commonwealth's Attorney has kicked off a new social media safety campaign to help protect children and teens.
The Virginia Beach Commonwealth's Attorney's Office reports that every year they prosecute numerous cases where youths either got in trouble for their online activity or were victimized for it.
Colin Stolle, Commonwealth's Attorney in Virginia Beach, is launching the "Always Online" social media campaign.
It provides parents a guide for monitoring social media activity online as well as gives them tools to protect children from online dangers.
A study from the Rochester Institute for Technology shows that approximately 14% of high school students have accepted an invitation to meet an online stranger or invited the stranger to meet them.
“If just one Virginia Beach child is victimized by an Internet predator, that is too many,” Stolle said. “The only way we can protect our children from online dangers is to stay involved, every day, with their online activity.”
The Commonwealth's Attorney's Office has created the Public Service Announcement above which will air on local television as well as in Virginia Beach movie theaters.
Stolle's office is also offering free computer monitoring software called ComputerCOP to families. It's a program that parents can install on a laptop or desktop to monitor internet activity as well as look out for threats such as cyber-bullying, gangs, drugs and predators.
The software is available from any Virginia Beach City Public Library. It was purchased with funds seized from criminal activity, so the software comes at no-cost to taxpayers.
For more information on the Always Online social media safety campaign, click here.
