VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – A series of forums is kicking off Monday night to teach Volusia County parents and guardians what internet trends they should be looking out for on their kids’ phones and what they can do to get ahead of an issue. The series comes after multiple arrests of adults meeting juveniles through cell phone apps and a rise in teens getting arrested for trends they see on social media.
“The kids aren’t going to stop. The parents have to be, and I’ll use the term, ‘helicopter parents.’ If you’re going to give your kid a cell phone then you need to know everything that’s going on with that cell phone,” said Sheriff Mike Chitwood.
Chitwood said his team of child exploitation experts and DCF investigators will run the forums over the next month, showing parents and guardians exactly what their kids may be hiding from them and how to find it.
“There’s so much out there that we as parents and grandparents just do not know because we didn’t grow up with this. They do. They know all about this stuff, they know how to hide stuff from you,” said Chitwood.
[EXCLUSIVE: Become a News 6 Insider (it’s FREE) | PINIT! Share your photos]
The sheriff said he saw the need for this after a 29-year-old man was arrested earlier this month. He’s accused of traveling to Deltona to meet and have sex with a 12-year-old.
The sheriff said the two had already met up on multiple occasions and met through an app called Wink.
“This Wink app, we’ll just pick on that one, that was described as the ‘Tinder for teenagers,’” said Chitwood.
On top of predators, Chitwood said his investigators are seeing swatting and prank call trends getting kids in trouble.
Just last week, an 11-year-old Port Orange girl was arrested after making a fake 911 call, claiming her friend was kidnapped as part of a challenge she saw on YouTube.
Now, with school around the corner, the Sheriff wants to curb the fake school shooting and bomb threat 911 calls they saw dozens of times last year and landed most of the students with felony charges.
“We want parents to understand that we want you to protect your child from putting themself in a place where they’re vulnerable and they can get injured, hurt or killed. At the same token, we want you to see what they can do on these apps that gets them arrested,” he said.
Here’s the full schedule of forums:
Get today’s headlines in minutes with Your Florida Daily: