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

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

3. Media Today Today’s media differs from traditional media in: - Speed
- Reach
- Accessibility
- Social media sites -
- 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.

4. Media Usage Today
Widespread: More than 77% of youth ages 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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.

8. Impersonation
Story about fake profile, crushes

9. Sexting

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

11. 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.

12. 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

13. 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

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

15. Results Law enforcement: High demand for training and materials
Full capacity classes and waiting lists
Digital Safety 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

16. 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.

17. 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.

18. 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

19. Contacts Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety Yahoo! Trust and Safety
Officer Holly Lawrence
Yahoo! Trust and Safety
Megan Cristina, Director

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