MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW)-As summer gets closer, Horry County police want to remind parents they need to pay close attention to how their child is spending his or her time. Horry County investigators say it’s important to know where your child is and who they’re with. They also say in this advanced digital age, you should know what your child’s doing on their phone and online.
Child predators no longer lurk on the playgrounds. Horry County detectives say the internet’s their playground. Predators can be anyone they want to be online and they use just about any avenue to target children. Some avenues you’d think are completely innocent. Things like online gaming and Xbox live.
“There in this game and they continue to play and their like, hey my name is Bob, whatever, I live down the street, where do you live? That is another avenue for predators, or a possible avenue for predators. I don’t what you to think I’m saying don’t let your kids play games. Because I am not. I’m saying you need to be aware. This is one way that can happen that people can get to them,” said Sherri Smith, Horry County sergeant.
Once initial conversation is made, predators go from asking where the child lives, to asking for inappropriate pictures. After that, predators will ask to meet a child, from there, that could lead to even more problems.
An undercover officer says monitoring everything your child is doing is the safest way to protect them.
“If you walk in a room and your child is on the internet or on the computer, and they turn the computer monitor off, that is a sign that your child has something to hide. If you see a text on your child’s phone or you see a text on the computer that says “PIR” most parents don’t know what that means, but it means parent in the room. Parents need to know what these anonymity keywords are that the kids are using or that the predators are using.”
The detectives also added that as predators find more ways to get to children, their team works harder to stay ahead of the predators.
