As part of their participation in the Kids, Cops & Computers program, kids are asked to complete a 500 word essay about one of the topics covered during the Lead & Learn sessions by their Toronto Police officer mentors. Shane B. wrote an excellent essay on Internet safety, which was recently showcased on KiwiCommons. Here's what he had to say about being safe online:

Internet safety
by Shane

"Internet safety is an important thing. You have to be very careful of what you put on things like Facebook or twitter sometimes even yahoo. The Internet is a dangerous thing to have but now everyone can have the Internet and be someone that there not like child predators or a rapist looking for a little boy or girl to rap. Today anyone can get Facebook. If you’re a kid you can ley about their age but if you’re an adult you can put a fake pic and use that pic to make you think that there kids just like you. They would send you a message telling you to take a photo of yourself and tell you to meet them at a place at some time but often you are going to be rapped or kidnapped. The next safety rule is whatever you post it too late to take it back. From a pic to a video you better know what you are doing to yourself. The Internet has something like a grid. Whatever you send it goes through it and people see if it’s inappropriate or not, say you send a dirty pic to someone, there is some people that have the brains and the Technology so they can spy on you. There are some people that can hack in to your computer and download all your things or spy on you throw your webcam and see what you are doing. Cyber bullying is a way to rely hurt someone. Tdsb is deciding to expel someone that does cyber bullying’s. Cyber bullying can be a message or a text from your phone. Some ways you can bully is to sand a threat to someone. Say if I send a message to my enemy saying “I’m going to kill you” the person would start to feel scared. That’s where the cops come in and put you in and cell. School get involved to so you are expelled from that school. You can get charged for it or be arrested. The Internet is like a person that has a big belly and it store all that you put online or say. It knows almost everything about you. The age to have Facebook is 13 but kids these days are making them anyway. So you don’t know who can be on Facebook. It can be any one! It can be your friend or a rapist that’s looking for kids. Whatever you put on the Internet, it stays on the Internet so don’t put bad thing or a pic of yourself doing bad things. The cops are now arresting people that cyber bully or are a pitiful. Most Internet connections are wireless now these days so you can pick up a connection from anywhere you feel like, but if they have a password in it you cannot get in. kids have to watch what you put on and the adult’s too or one day you could be in a cop car and be sentenced to a prison for life. Make the right choose, do the right, don’t stop."

For more information and to watch videos on Internet Safety see  Be Web Wise