Internet safety tips provided by West Windsor police sergeant
By: Emily Craighead
Sgt. Robert Garofalo of the West Windsor Police Department says it’s OK to spy on your children.
At a MySpace and Internet safety presentation at Grover Middle School on Friday, he gave parents "full permission to be the nosiest parent you want to be." The presentation was sponsored by the Grover and Community Middle Schools Parent Teacher Student Associations.
Sgt. Garofalo doesn’t advocate finding out children’s deepest, darkest secrets, but he stresses the importance of monitoring their Internet use.
After all, with just a few keystrokes, anyone in the world with a computer and an Internet connection sex offenders, school officials or employers can find profiles and personal information posted in Web logs at sites such as MySpace, Xanga or America Online.
As an example, Sgt. Garofalo showed the online profile of a 17-year-old in the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District who likes dancing and horseback riding details an Internet predator might use as bait.
"With all the different hobbies she’s given me, I can strike up a conversation and talk to her all day," said Sgt. Garofalo, who is in charge of computer forensics and investigations for the West Windsor Police Department.
Another student described her extracurricular activities and posted pictures of herself and her sister.
"I know she’s a cheerleader, so I know where to find her at 4 o’clock every day," he said. "And if I can’t get to her, I’ll get to her little sister instead."
To keep children safe, Sgt. Garofalo suggested including less personal information and using privacy settings available on Web sites that host blogs.
Girls are more likely than boys to form close online relationships, and children who often fight with their parents or are troubled by depression or other problems are also more likely to confide in someone they meet online, Sgt. Garofalo said.
"Don’t change your (parenting) style," he urged. "Use it as a tool to recognize what you’re seeing."
He also encouraged parents to put the computer in a place where parents can see the screen and keep an eye on what children are doing online.
"If you’re comfortable driving your child to New York City and dropping them off on the corner with $1,000, you can leave them with a computer unsupervised in their room," he said.
Children are computer-savvy, and an instant-messaging language has sprung up to keep parents in the dark, according to Sgt. Garofalo. Some of those codes include POS Parent Over Shoulder; 9 someone’s looking; and 99 all clear.
"They’re good at this," he said. "We’re just catching up."
Guidelines and rules for Internet use should be age-appropriate, according to Sgt. Garofalo. For example, he set parental controls so that his 9-year-old son can only access Web sites Sgt. Garofalo has approved. Filtering software such as Net Nanny or SafeSurf allows parents to limit the types of Web sites children can visit.
He also suggested that parents keep track of their children’s e-mail accounts and know the passwords.
"I don’t want to know all your personal stuff, I just want to keep you safe," Sgt. Garofalo said parents should tell their children. "This is about being involved."
He suggested several Internet resources for parents, including www.isafe.org and www.cybersmart.org.

