JACKSONVILLE, Fla — The FBI, Duval County Public Schools, and Duval County School Police are teaming up to help parents, guardians, and children understand the risks of using social media and the long-term consequences of unsafe online behavior.
“Be Smart Online” is a program that helps kids from falling victim to predators online. Agents from the FBI Jacksonville will share methods that predators use to target children, as well as provide resources to report suspicious activity.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Jason Carley and Duval County Public Schools Police Chief Jackson Short joined Jacksonville’s Morning News to discuss the methods that offenders are using to target kids.
“One of our biggest things is we want to raise public awareness to all of the parents and guardians out there for all the children that are attending these schools. It’s very important for them to have a good understanding of what potential predators are out there online. Whether it be social media, online forums, online gaming, we want to be able to give them a better understanding of what’s there and also to raise your awareness about this, to start thinking about communicating with your children in regards to their footprint, whether it be on social media or online gaming, things of that nature, because we want to make sure they have an understanding and are having that dialogue with their children,” says Special Agent in Charge Carley.
“Be Smart Online” will take place on Wednesday, January 14, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Kernan Middle School. The event is free and open to the public. Parents can register and submit questions for the event.
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