I feel the need
to clarify some of my personal beliefs. Many people assume their children are in
danger of unknown subjects lurking on the Internet in an effort to lure their
child in to meeting them. It has been my experience, depending on the age of
the child, that most kids willingly enter into a relationship or friendship
with an unknown Internet “friend” in an effort to fit in or fill some kind of need
in their life.
I believe most
of the teenage victims are the result of the child putting themselves in a
position to become victims. This is not to say I devalue them as victims, but I
have noticed a lot of teenage victims were in a chat room or communicating with
an unknown subject and over time they become involved with the person
emotionally. Sometimes the relationship is very strong as the communication
starts out via the Internet, then progressing to the use of cell phones and
eventually face to face meeting(s).
Often times by the time the
relationship is discovered, the child is in love with the subject and the bond
between the two is very difficult to break. Of course all of this depends on
many factors including the location of the victim and the suspect. If the
suspect is out of state or otherwise geographically out of the area it is
easier to control the relationship.
My daughter was
resistant to using a RADAR phone, and I soon discovered it was because she was
spending many hours on the phone late at night talking with her boyfriend.
Something we never suspected. It was not a big deal, however, it was easy to
address once we knew about it.
Inv. Jeff Brown