CYBERBULLYING AND ONLINE SAFETY Effects on our communities and what you can do to help Officer Holly Lawrence Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety

Agenda Traditional Media vs. Today’s Media Law Enforcement’s Media Concerns Our Response The Digital Safety Program Our Results What You Can Do

Media Today Today’s media differs from traditional media in: - Speed - Reach - Accessibility - Social media sites - Email - Mobile phones - Text messaging Think about television at the gas station, in line at the bank, even checking into a flight Kids are going to need to know how to use media so the suggestion is not to attempt to remove media from their lives completely (it will be unsuccessful), rather how to use is responsibly. Even if a parent tries to remove online media from the home, kids will find a way around that. It’s available everywhere.

Media Usage Today Widespread: More than 77% of youth ages 12-17 have a cell phone. Always on: The average youth between 8-18 years- old spends 7.5 hours using media per day. That’s more time than they spend in school or with their parents. Large scale: The typical teen sends 1,800 texts per month. Note: It’s 10 hours and 45 minutes if you include multitasking, which is more than a full time job + overtime, to take Rebecca Randall’s stat You can also note that 23% of teens have smart phones (Pew 2012) *Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project Teen/Parent Survey 2011 *Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds, Kaiser Family Foundation, 2010 *Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project Teens, Smartphone &Texting 2012

Law Enforcement’s Media Concerns Operational Readiness Laws Staying Current Operational readiness: Are today’s law enforcement agencies prepared and trained to handle these tech abuse cases? Laws: Do current laws reflect today’s 24-7 media world? Staying current: Media continues to grow and change, how do we get caught up and stay current? Law enforcements wants to get caught up to tech offenses Story about first week, dealing with 13 year olds Under laws are not reflective of today’s media world: Mention the possession of child pornography cases that are often mentioned in the media

What We’ve Seen Police officers are responding to calls for service increasingly linked to mobile phones and social media. Threats and fights Impersonation Sexting Risky behavior Whether it’s a: Fight/threats: start on Facebook, text Impersonation/fake profiles Risky behavior

Threats and Fights Kids have always been fighting. Now fighting instigated with social media. Now videotaping fights, posting them on social media Photo credit: J O I D via Flickr.

Impersonation Story about fake profile, crushes

Sexting

Risky Behavior Sexting-exploring sexuality online, contacting strangers and exchanging sexually explicit conversation and imaging Location services: checking-in, geotagging

1. Seek possible solutions 2. Research existing programs Our Agency’s Response 1. Seek possible solutions 2. Research existing programs 3. Partner with Yahoo! Sunnyvale DPS wanted to find an educational program that law enforcement could use as an appropriate solution for handling tech violators. We found that existing safety programs were not appropriate for law enforcement presenters. Were not as serious in nature. Yahoo! recognized the need for such a curriculum and agreed to partner to develop a course tailored to law enforcement.

Our Agency’s Response Understanding that addressing tech offenses requires: Educating on the scope of the problem and assisting to help prosecute cases for all parties involved. Attorneys General District attorneys Judges Juvenile Probation Schools

Digital Safety as a Solution Educate Courts District Attorneys Law Enforcement Agencies Probation Public Train Increase Law enforcement response and interest Legal Review Evaluate and strengthen existing laws

Digital Safety Training California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) certified. The only POST- approved course in California on cyberbullying.

Results Law enforcement: High demand for training and materials Full capacity classes and waiting lists Digital Safety email group Community groups Requests for law enforcement presentations from: Schools PTAs Faith-based organizations Community centers Health organizations Mention that in training, also get district attorneys to come and say what they want to see to prosecute

Program Components Kids: How to make good decisions online Adults: How to parent online We believe there exists a disconnect between kids and parents when it comes to technology. Our course is tailored to those different needs.

Digital Safety Program DVD Contents Proactive Reactive Youth 1 hour presentation Youth 3 hour diversion presentation Adults 1 hour presentation Adults 3 hour diversion presentation Speaker notes Family Media Agreement Kids topics, parents topics, Proactive topics, reactive topics. Youth Online safety and bullying prevention presentations for youth. Promotes maintaining a positive online reputation, good online citizenship. Adult Online safety and bullying prevention presentations to parents/adults. Provides help on how to guide youth in today’s digital environment. A juvenile diversion program for youth and parents through probation’s Restorative Justice Program. The presentation is more intensive, and are tailored for youth who have already committed tech offenses.

What You Can Do Learn the issues Identify system partners Champion change Review and implement laws Learn the issues – Educate yourself on the issues related to online safety. Identify system partners – Reach out to courts, counties, district attorneys, and others who can benefit from the course Champion change – Your agency can be a point of contact for a fresh new approach to tech offenses. Review and implement– Do current laws apply? Become educated on the subject Reach out to da, counties, If there are options through restorative justice. Get courts and justices behind the program. Your agencies can be the leaders in the states for these things. Educate different departments about the process and the ways to handle it. Your agency can be that point person to implement changes and take a look at existing laws to see if it’s reflective of what’s going on in today’s media world. We can get you the materials Help with getting the course certified

Contacts Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety Yahoo! Trust and Safety Officer Holly Lawrence hlawrence@ci.sunnyvale.ca.us 408.730.7146 Yahoo! Trust and Safety Megan Cristina, Director megan@yahoo-inc.com 408.349.3995

Video courtesy of Yahoo! “Jill’s Story” Video courtesy of Yahoo!