Duane Hicks
“Stop. Think. Click.”
This is the message the OPP is trying to get through with its new provincial crime prevention initiative called Cyber Awareness Protection and Enforcement (CAPE), which was launched for the North West Region here last week.
A two-day workshop was conducted at the Fort Frances Public Library Technology Centre, which was attended by OPP officers as well as community partners from the Rainy River District School Board, Northwest Catholic District School Board, Seniors and Law Enforcement Together (S.A.L.T.), and the Rainy River District Victim Services Program.
In simplest terms, CAPE brings together community partners to educate the public, particularly youths and seniors, about responsible use of the Internet.
“We police people and public safety is priority one for the community in the real world. But it’s no different online,” stressed local Community Services Officer Cst. Anne McCoy.
“There’s rules, there’s laws that have to followed when you’re online,” she noted. “There’s not only that—it’s about acting responsibly.
“We want people to know about and remember this phrase we’re working with: Stop. Think. Click,” added Cst. McCoy.
“Think about what the possible consequences are before you act or respond to something online.”
Under CAPE, the OPP has developed a partnership with commonsensemedia.org, which has many tools, including school curriculums, and resource
materials.
“It offers us trusted information to go out into the schools and into our communities to teach parents, teachers, and seniors about how they can protect themselves online,” Cst. McCoy explained.
“We’re going in and teaching children, junior kindergarten right up through to Grade 12,” she noted.
“We’re teaching parents workshops. I did presentations to teachers’ assistants and teachers at the October P.D. Day.
“We’re really formulating this plan to work on what is digital citizenship,” she remarked.
When you think about what citizenship means, it’s following the laws, being respectful, and knowing what your responsibility is in the community, said Cst. McCoy.
“Well, it’s no different online—what is your responsibility online, how are you going to behave?” she stressed. “You have to abide by some community responsibilities, as well, not just laws.
“We want people to use the technology but do it safely.”
Last week’s workshops here were about working with stakeholders to establish a community network to promote online safety. The OPP familiarized them with the tools available, as well as garnered their input.
“What are victims of crime seeing?” remarked Cst. McCoy. “What are seniors seeing? What are schools seeing? What are youth seeing? And what type of incidents are we dealing with?
“Ten years ago, we weren’t dealing with sexting,” she added, noting rules and laws in the digital world can be murky.
“If there are pictures that qualify under the Criminal Code as those types of pictures, if you receive them, are you in possession of child pornography? If you send it out, are you distributing child pornography?
“Those are the things we want people to think about,” Cst. McCoy said.
“It’s not just a matter of reputation. It’s how does it fall under the law.”
Another area covered was privacy and realizing that what you post on social media, like Facebook, could affect your life.
“We have one lesson called ‘College Bound,’ where we’re talking about content,” Cst. McCoy explained. “Part of the lesson has a picture of this woman who went to a post-secondary education institution and she has a pirate hat on and a plastic cup in her hand.
“The caption is ‘Drunken Pirate.’
“We talk about how she didn’t graduate. The school dismissed her because it cast a negative shadow on the school and her reputation.
“So we get into the talk about whether that was fair, what was the responsibility of the student, of her friend who posted it, of other people who saw it, the institution.
“And then we talk about the content,” she added.
“What if the caption was changed? What if it said, ‘Best kids’ party ever?’ What has changed?
“What is the difference in the messaging and how does it impact you when you put it up for the whole world to see?” wondered Cst. McCoy.
She said many people—kids and adults—don’t realize the enormous impact posting such information can have, whether they’re applying for school, a team, a job, etc.
“I always equate it to: We give 16-year-olds a driver’s licence after all this training. Here’s your car, now you can go,” she noted.
“What we do with four- and five-year-olds is put a computer in front of them and saying, ‘Go for it,’ and we’re not teaching them to use it responsibly.
“It’s a great and wonderful tool, but it can really come back to bite you,” she warned.
Cst. McCoy also encouraged parents to check out commonsensemedia.org
“It has fabulous resources and lots of tips sheets they can use, and instructions on how to ensure that Facebook privacy settings are set appropriately and what types of things they should be learning about,” she noted.
“If you don’t know about it, sit down with your children and have them teach you about it—empower them and get them to teach you how to do it, but familiarize yourself,” added Cst. McCoy.
“There’s how-to videos on how to work the privacy settings.
“But a lot of [parents] won’t go on Facebook because they think, ‘I don’t know how to use it.’”
The workshop here was conducted by OPP Sgt. Rob Geneja (Youth Resources), Sgt. Robin Sanders (Seniors Assistance), and Raj Sud (Crime Prevention Section).
CAPE is funded by the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services through the Proceeds of Crime grant, which uses money taken from criminals to help keep communities safe.
Tim Hortons donation
Tim Hortons franchisee Gord McQuarrie dropped by the CAPE launch Thursday to donate proceeds from the SMILE cookie campaign in the amount of $4,300.
This money will go to the local OPP Youth Foundation—Respect Technology Program.
