Keep your kids safe online this summer

NEW LONDON - With schools almost out for the summer, a reminder of the increased risk children can face online.

Court documents in Manitowoc County indicate a Neenah man held sexually explicit online conversations with, and exposed himself to, who he thought was a 15-year-old girl. That "girl" was actually a special agent from the Wisconsin Department of Justice. The suspect, 25-year-old Robert Federer, has a court hearing scheduled Friday on 16 charges, mostly for exposing a child to harmful descriptions.

"I monitor what sites they're on," Erika Dorn said, talking about her nine-year-old and six-year-old. The New Holstein mother's children will be spending time outside this Summer, they'll also be online.

"I wouldn't let my kids have a computer of their own in their room because I can't see what's going on and that would bother me because I know what goes on. It's unsettling to me to not be able to watch what's going on," said Dorn.

Watching what's going on online is part of Officer Josh Wilson's job.

"I'm sure it picks up in the summer, I'm just sure we don't hear about it all," said Wilson. Wilson has been with the New London Police Department for 10 years, and worked on internet crimes against children for seven. He's also part of the newly-formed Waupaca County Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

"It took him, 30 seconds to ask for pictures," Wilson explained, while posing online as a 15-year-old girl. Within minutes of signing on, various men started chatting with who they thought was a teenage girl.

"Just like we know where our kids are when we're working," said Wilson. "the bad guys know where the kids are when school's on and off."

Wilson has posed as a child, and seen real cases where real young people have become victims.

"Kids need to know who they're talking to. That's the biggest piece of advice I can give."

Wilson says there is plenty for parents to know as well.

"I've run in to more circumstances too where parents are afraid to monitor what their kids are doing. 'That's my kid's Facebook account, I don't have a password to it,' Well you probably should have a password to it. You probably should be looking at what they're doing, see what they're doing. It's your kid."

Parents, Wilson says, need to know the technology, and what their children are doing, to help keep their families safe online this summer, and all the time.

Wilson's advice for parents includes:
- Keep phones and computers in a common area, not a bedroom.
- Put monitoring software on your computer.
- View your child's social media pages.
- Monitor cell phone usage as well.

Wilson also says recent histories are easy to check on phones and computers, but can also be easily erased.