Golden – Cautions to children about strangers also apply to the Internet, a message that the Jefferson County district attorney’s office wants to spread with a new program launched Wednesday.
Called “Stranger Danger – Internet Strangers,” the program aims to educate elementary schoolchildren about Internet safety.
“In 1996, there were 15 million kids online each day. There are 40 million online daily now,” said DA investigator Mike Harris. With his wife, Cassandra, who also is a DA investigator, Harris has spent the past decade investigating sex offenders who lure children on the Internet.
It’s hard to get parents to attend information sessions, he said, and catching offenders is only part of the strategy.
Prevention efforts now target students – first those in high school and middle school and now elementary school-aged children.
“We need to plant the seed of Internet safety at younger ages,” Harris said. Elementary school students are online but don’t realize possible dangers.
To help deliver the message, CHEESO – a mascotlike, yellow- clad lion portrayed by an undercover officer – has been created with private contributions. Beginning this fall, the lion will accompany Harris in visiting schools to warn students to be careful online.
CHEESO is what Harris uses as shorthand for the Child Sex Offender Internet Investigations (CSOII) Unit.
Jefferson County District Attorney Scott Storey has expanded the unit.
“I have made it a priority to protect kids who may be vulnerable to solicitations on the Internet,” Storey said.
Since 2005, the Jeffco DA’s office has charged 40 adult men with enticing children online.
Parents have worried about their children being approached on playgrounds, Harris said, “but now the playgrounds are coming into our homes, and … the playgrounds are computers.”
Staff writer Ann Schrader can be reached at 303-278-3217 or aschrader@denverpost.com.
