Police offer tips on preventing child sex abuse

Sexual abuse is one of the most prevalent forms of child abuse in Stoddard County. So, in honor of April being National Child Abuse Prevention Month, the Dexter Police Department has some tips for parents on how they can prevent their children from falling victim to sexual predators.

"Of course you need to teach your children never to talk to strangers," said Sgt. Jeff Mitchell. "And along those same lines, children should know that they should never, for any reason, get into a vehicle with someone they don't know.

"And another thing is that if the children don't recognize a vehicle, they should never get close enough to it that they can be grabbed and pulled inside," Mitchell said. "Stay far away from it."

Parents should also be aware of where their children are and never let a child out late at night alone.

"If your child says that they are going somewhere, make sure that is where they go," said Mitchell. "And a child who is outside late a night alone makes a very good target."

The City of Dexter has a curfew of 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and midnight Friday and Saturday for any child under the age of 17.

"If they are out after those times, there had better be an adult with them," said Mitchell.

Parents and children should also be aware of their surroundings and what normally happens in their neighborhood. That way, if a strange vehicle begins showing up in their neighborhood, they will know to be on guard.

"This is something that parents need to learn to do as well as children," said Mitchell. "A lot of times, someone will drive through a neighborhood looking for potential victims and if you don't know what is going on around you, you won't notice something that could be important."

Another medium that sexual predators have taken advantage of in recent years is the Internet. Online stalking of children is on the rise, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Alexandria, Va. The center's Cyber Tip Line last year received 2,605 complaints about online sexual predators, a 23 percent jump from the previous year.

Because pedophiles usually keep themselves isolated, the Internet allows them access to not only children, but other pedophiles, while remaining completely anonymous.

"You need to know who your child is chatting with on the Internet," said Mitchell. "A lot of these people will use fake names and pretend they are children.

"Then, after a while, they will ask the children to meet them somewhere," Mitchell continued. "The kids will do it because this is someone they have communicated with on the Internet and feel like they know and can trust."

Mitchell said there is software available to parents that can be installed on home computers that use keywords to block certain things from the computer, letting the parent know that the child won't be visiting any sites he or she shouldn't.

But the most important thing, according to Mitchell, is letting the children know that if ever they have any suspicions or worries, that they can turn to a trusted adult.

"Parents need to sit their kids down and let them know that if they ever have any concerns or worries, that there will be someone they can turn to," said Mitchell. "Whether that person is the parent or a teacher or school or whoever, these kids need to know that they have someone they can turn to if they ever need to."

Sacha Champion may be reached via e-mail at schampion@dailystatesman.com