Sheriff's Internet Safety Center

OVERVIEW

Sheriff Warren Evans has called the Internet, "the New West," in terms of its overall lack of police enforcement and the fact that it has become a growing opportunity for individuals to break laws with little fear of being arrested. To help tame "the New West," Evans created the Internet Crime Unit in 2003, which conducts online investigations and performs tremendous amounts of forensic analysis of computers for police agencies throughout Wayne County. In its first five years, this small team of officers has arrested and convicted approximately 130 child sex predators and online child pornographers.

Evans' office also has distributed more than 10,000 Computer Cop CDs to parents, so they can monitor their kids' computer and online activity.

In an effort to further assist individuals' efforts to protect themselves and their families from Internet Crime, the Sheriff's Office is pleased to provide you with more useful information and links.

INTERNET CHILD SAFETY

Chat & Text message abbreviation "Cheat Sheet" for parents

One of the keys to protecting your child on the Internet is understanding the language they use in chat, email and text messages. For example, did you know that if your child sends a message to someone else that reads "POS", that is short for Parent Over Shoulder. That's a code to let the other person know that they can only converse about things that they feel it's okay for you to know. There are literally hundreds of similar abbreviations that kids use, many of them totally innocent, but some of them not so innocent. Click here for a copy of our "Cheat Sheet" (Chat-Dictionary) for parents to refer to ().

See also: More Tips for Parents

Sheriff Evans Internet Child Safety Video

INTERNET SCAMS

It seems that almost every day we are hearing about new ways that people are trying to scam others over the Internet. People claiming to want to deposit money into your bank account or emails claiming to come from legitimate well-known businesses that tell you that you must provide personal information in order to keep your account open, are just a couple of examples.

In this area we have provided information from the FBI that informs you of many of the most common schemes, how to spot them and how to protect yourself. If you have been the victim of an online scam, we'll also show you how to file a complaint.

• For a list of common Online Scams, click here
• For a list of Online Scam Prevention Tips, click here

How to file a complaint about Internet Crimes

Many Internet based Crimes are federal crimes becuase they involve illegal activity that is initiated in a different state than where the victim lives. To file a complaint with the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), visit www.ic3.gov

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