Internet Safety

By Officer Jeremy Brand

I am Officer Jeremy Brand with the Lamar Police Department. I teach an Internet Safety class geared towards children of all ages. I chose to teach in this area due to my computer background.

I have been a computer “geek” since grade school when my dad brought home a fancy new thing called a Comodore 64. It was hooked up to a black and white TV, but I loved that thing. I taught myself how to write BASIC programs and I was hooked from there. I went through High School teaching some of my teachers how to do computer stuff. While I was in college I went to work for a company called LaBarge Electronics, Inc and met a “computer guy” and he took me under his wing and I followed him until I made the decision to become a police Officer in the late 90’s. Then recently I went to some forensic training teaching me how to retrieve evidence from a computer even after it has been erased and plan on even more training in this computer forensics field in the future.

I taught a class for Mr. Luce’s 7th grade class and you would be amazed at how many of those kids have a MySpace account. Hopefully after my class they will understand the importance of making their MySpace a private account because people all over the world can see every photo and every comment on your page if you don’t make it private. I also teach them how easy it is for anyone with some basic computer knowledge to track someone just from seeing their nick name in a chat room. I also warn them of the danger of opening email from people you don’t know. We talk about how people can misrepresent themselves when you can’t see them and how bad things can happen when people want to meet you in real life. I share a couple of videos that are narrated by teens that were lured in by Internet predators and actually met in real life. In both of the incidents the girls felt like they were very lucky to be alive and both of the predators were in prison for their actions. We also talk about some things that parents can do and give them a hand out that they can give to a parent. The most important thing we discuss is to tell a trusted adult. If someone says something inappropriate or sends you something that makes you feel scared or embarrassed, tell a trusted adult. It can be a parent or a policeman or a teacher, but tell a trusted adult!!!

I also provided some training in this area for the Barton County Health Department. The ladies there were very interested in what I had to say. They asked good questions and were also amazed at how easy it was to track a person down on the internet. Did you know that if you just type a person’s phone number into Google that, with a few mouse clicks, you can have a satellite image of their home and surrounding area? Pretty scary, huh? There is a ton of information that I can give you on the topic of internet safety, but the most important part is to use common sense. No one is going to give you money for nothing, and you are not going to win a lottery you did not sign up for. If someone says you won a lottery and wants you to cash a check and send them the balance for a “transaction fee” it is a scam.

Finally, I would like to add that if you would like for me to speak at a function or a group meeting, please let me know. I enjoy spreading this information to people so the internet can be a safer place for our children.