Pierce County parents beware: Online predators benefit from COVID-19 shutdown
“Stay home and stay safe” is an oft-repeated phrase around Washington since Gov. Jay Inslee issued his emergency shutdown orders in March. But the second part may not always be true, especially for millions of kids who’ve had to turn to online sources for entertainment.
Online predators are seizing opportunities afforded by school closures and canceled sports and activities to groom children for sexual exploitation. It’s why parents and caregivers need to pay close attention to their kids’ online activities.
Before the coronavirus hit, one in five children between 10 and 17 years old reported unwanted sexual advances online, according to a study from the Crimes Against Children Research Center.
So, who’s watching the kids now, when they’re even more at risk? Law enforcers aren’t doing as much as they’d like. That requires money and, according to Coreen Schnepf, a Pierce County deputy prosecutor who specializes in human trafficking, public funds are lacking to do enough of the kind of proactive investigations that can snare online predators.
Schnepf told a member of our Editorial Board that staying home has increased the threat of child exploitation and human trafficking; she’s especially concerned that teachers and school staff who play a large role in keeping tabs on kids in unstable households will have a difficult time doing it remotely.
Kyra Doubek, executive director of the nonprofit Washington Trafficking Prevention, seconded that opinion, explaining that sex trafficking can proliferate in the absence of services that provide help with housing, addiction and mental health issues.
Exploiters used to go to malls to stalk young people, often zeroing in on those standing alone or looking at the floor, she said, but now “victims are right at their fingertips.”
Predators hide behind fake names and convince kids to meet up in the physical world. Too often, they get away with it.
With a virtual entrance into kids’ bedrooms, predators establish contact through messaging on video games, or they “friend” kids on social media, earning trust and building relationships over time.
Prevention is still the best line of defense. With a long stretch of summer still before us, parents and guardians need to have open, honest conversations with their kids, including older teenagers, about the dangers of “talking” to people online.
But not all youth have parents or caregivers supervising online activities. Homelessness and economic insecurity put some kids in a higher risk group for exploitation.
It’s why in recent months federal lawmakers introduced two pieces of legislation worth watching; both aim to fight internet sex abuse, though each bill earned legitimate critiques.
The Invest in Child Safety Act would spend more than $5 billion over 10 years to expand anti-child abuse divisions at the Federal Bureau of Investigations. It would also provide more resources to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and direct more funds to local and state agencies.
Critics say it gives too much money to law enforcement and not enough to prevention; we say tweak the distribution formula if you must, but this act deserves serious consideration.
The EARN IT Act is a little more troublesome as it puts the responsibility of policing the internet on website hosts. Naturally, encryption technology is a concern. Legal experts and digital-rights advocates complain the bill is unconstitutional and would undermine the privacy and security of all Americans.
We agree that child exploitation is not a problem solved by internet policing alone, but there needs to be some filter for child sex abuse.
According to the New York Times, nearly 70 million images and videos were reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and it’s thought those numbers have only increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.
We recommend visiting the Washington Trafficking Prevention website, which provides parents, kids and educators with internet safety tips.
If your child is old enough to go online, they’re old enough to discuss the dangers that lurk within.