Child Internet Safety Day: HPD reports increase in online child exploitation cases, gives safety tips to parents

HOUSTON – The Houston Police Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children taskforce provided safety tips for parents to keep their children safe online in observance of Child Internet Safety Day on Tuesday.

• What is the Discord app? And why parents should be aware of it

HPD Lt. Freddy Croft said online exploitation of children has increased over the last five years across the United States.

By the numbers in 2019:

• 3,500 online child exploitation cases have been reported across U.S.
• 2,200 online child exploitation cases have been reported across the Houston area.

During the news conference, Croft gave several online safety tips parents or guardians can do to keep their child safe:

1. When setting up an account online or cellphone, place restrictions in phone settings to make it based on the child’s age group.
2. Monitor your child’s online activity to see what apps they are using and who they are talking to.
3. Teach them about internet safety tactics while online.
4. Set up download restrictions to monitor apps that are allowed on device.
5. Restrict online communication and limit visibility by not allowing them to add new friends until they go through an approval process.

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