CYBER safety was in the spotlight at Coffee with a Cop in Capalaba on February 5 in honour of Safer Internet Day.
Safer Internet Day is an international event focussed on raising awareness and educating internet users.
The Minister for Police and Corrective Services Mark Ryan said Safer Internet Day was also about raising awareness among parents, caregivers, educators and anyone in the community who had the job of caring for, raising or educating a child.
Leading Senior Constable Claire Arnold from the Australian Federal Police attended the Coffee with a Cop session, offering advice about staying safe online.
Leading Senior Constable Arnold is involved with the ThinkUKnow program, which provides cyber safety presentations to Australian parents, carers and teachers and students.
The program offers advice on topics including cyber bullying, dating and sexting, information sharing, privacy and gaming.
Minister Ryan said the work done by police and child protection officers in investigating internet-facilitated crimes against children was of vital importance.
“Over the years, the team has seen the worst crimes and witnessed these atrocities captured across hundreds and thousands of images and videos,” Minister Ryan said.
“They have seen the pain, the trauma and the suffering. They have seen it all.
“It is because of their sheer hard work and dedication that so many children across the world have been removed from harm and saved from the hands of those who commit these most horrible acts.”
Detective Inspector Jon Rouse, head of operations at State Crime Command’s Argos said too many crimes started with a stranger requesting images or videos from a child online.
“A simple friend request on an app that facilitates communication can lead to a child chatting to strangers, the production and distribution of images and potentially, the child meeting up with their new ‘friend’,” Detective Inspector Rouse said.
“Despite all that we are doing at the front line to investigate and stop the sexual exploitation of children we are encountering spiralling volumes of self-produced images and videos in our digital seizures.”
For more information on staying safe online, visit thinkuknow.org.au/.