‘It’s about inappropriate language’

NEW GLASGOW, N.S. — There are just over 30 students in Pam Power’s Grade 6 classroom at A.G. Baillie and every one of them has their hand raised.

Const. Ken MacDonald has just asked them a question.

“How many of you own a smart phone, a laptop or an iPad?”

It’s not a question he would have been asking the same grade level 15 years ago, but now it’s a vital part of the New Glasgow Police Department's educational outreach.

“Let’s roll back time. If I asked that question 10 years ago, nobody would have put their hands up,” said MacDonald.

The reason why he’s teaching Internet safety in schools is simple: children and teenagers have access to Internet, but there is very little in the way of education for using the Internet appropriately.

“Has anyone here actually been taught how to use safety features?” asks MacDonald. Just under half of the class raises their hand. “Has anyone here been taught by their parents?”

This time less than one-quarter raises their hands.

“That’s actually more than usual,” MacDonald later tells The News in the hallway outside the classroom. He had about two minutes before going into the class next door to deliver the same presentation.

Last January, MacDonald agreed to give an interview at the New Glasgow Police Department headquarters.

“It's just like anything, with the increase of people on the Internet there is an increased availability for criminal activity to take place.”

And the technology for accessing the Internet is rolling downhill.

“What that means is more and more folks at an earlier age are accessing the Internet through technology," said MacDonald. “We have seen in Nova Scotia and in our community that explicit photos had been shared in inappropriate terms. And it’s not just about photos. It’s about inappropriate language. Inappropriate and criminal types of behaviour. Threats.”

And, as one of the Grade 6 students at A.G. Baillie was quick to say during MacDonald’s presentation, “Whatever you put on the Internet, it stays on the Internet.”

Even though the technology is rolling toward elementary school students, that educational component also needs to be available to adults.

“Tobacco, drugs, strangerdanger, all those things the adults were the experts on because they’re experienced and know more about it than kids,” MacDonald tells the class. “But now with technology and the Internet, that whole diagram is turned upside down where kids like yourselves know more than adults."

A lot of nodding heads. “That’s one of the things we’re looking at is bringing parents in here and having our computer experts show them,” MacDonald told The News. “We’ll be talking about cyber security, reporting procedures and how to protect your child.”

The dates for those information sessions have yet to be determined, but MacDonald said that they will be announced within the next couple of months.

In the meantime, he says there’s a few things that can be done right now.

“At the end of the day, have an open conversation with your child,” said MacDonald. “And there’s a lot of online recourses and tutorials that allow you to monitor, protect and to help you have those conversations about setting parameters for online use.”