The Fillmore County Sheriff’s Department and Fillmore County Attorney’s Office are in the midst of an initiative geared towards bringing awareness to the effects of bullying and social media usage and its gaining momentum.
“The main goals of our campaign on appropriate social media usage is to keep our younger citizens, and all citizens, safer, to prevent them from becoming or continuing to be victims, and to prevent them from being criminally prosecuted for their actions and wrong decisions,” says Fillmore County Sheriff Tom Kaase.
The concept for the awareness campaign came from several different angles, giving way to a convenient opportunity. The Fillmore County Attorney’s Office had done a similar program in the past, geared towards creating technology awareness, after an area school district reached out for a presentation in May 2017. The school’s principal then requested the presentation specifically for students in middle and high school, which in turn started the drive this past fall. The initiative also piggybacks on a sheriff’s department initiative aimed at promoting community outreach.
“We also recognized the advantage of improving the safety of our younger, and older, citizens by taking a proactive approach through education, as well as the reactive approach we’ve had to take over the last number of years,” adds Kaase. Over the last several years, reports to the department citing incidents of inappropriate usage, resulting in investigations, have increased. “Is this a result of more incidents happening or is it because of more awareness of the issues and problems, resulting in more report and requests for assistance from law enforcement?”
As technology and social media continue to grow by leaps and bounds, departments and communities are striving to keep pace with any negative ramifications. “This same technology and social media touches all ages, there are no age boundaries or limitations,” states Kaase. “As we see more reports and investigations of incidents that people become victims and suspects, we recognize the importance of trying to help people on the front end, in a proactive way. We want to help keep people safer. We want to help keep people from making poor decisions and becoming victims. We want to help keep people from making poor decisions and becoming suspects and being prosecuted for crimes. Technology and social media are here to stay. The Fillmore County Sheriff’s Office commitment is to help educated our citizens in a proactive way to have a safer life.”
The first presentation was given at Rushford-Peterson. Since then, presentations have been held at Kingsland and Mabel-Canton school districts. Additional presentations are scheduled or in the works for Chatfield (April) and Fillmore Central. Organizers hope to also address additional districts in the future.
Initially, the two offices put together their own presentation materials with Assistant County Attorney Marla Stanton taking the lead on Minnesota law and what legal situations are encountered and Sheriff’s Department Captain John DeGeorge presenting an overview of how to be a good digital citizen. A powerpoint, put together by the Center for Missing and Exploited Children was found to be spot on the material and was eventually taken on as the bulk of the presentation portion of the events.
Typically, middle school students, grades 5-8, depending on the district setup, are presented with hypothetical examples of social consequences regarding online safety, cyber bullying, and sexting. “We want them to know all the consequences and we start with saying, ‘We hope this is not the first time you’ve heard this information,’” notes Stanton. “The middle school students are usually very eager to answer our questions.”
High school students receive a broader version of the material highlighting legal ramifications. “They’re not quite as eager to answer, but we’ll see them poke their friends; see them whisper to each other,” adds Stanton. She points out to students that online actions can be punishable by law. Parties in an issue, even in a consensual relationship, may see criminal punishment, including state and federal pornography felonies, if one of the parties is a minor. “Up until recently, cases fell under criminal defamation. In 2016, the state passed a new revenge porn statute,” says Stanton. In these instances, but not all, parties can be held responsible for distribution of sexually explicit material.
A presentation for parents is typically held in the evenings, after the back to back, daytime student presentations. “Sometimes kids know more than parents,” cautions Stanton. “With kids, this is their first language; they’ve never grown up without it. If your kids are on it, you need to be on it.” The evening presentations are for anyone in the community interested in learning more.
“Our hope is to continue to keeping moving forward with the proactive approach,” says Kaase, who attends the presentations along with Chief Deputy Kevin Beck and DeGeorge. “Community outreach and education are an expectation. I believe our attendance displays our commitment, as well as being on hand to field questions or allow people to reach out to us personally. We hope to continue to reach out through proactive contacts, education to young and old, with all those in between, and assistance in investigations with hopefully better outcomes.”
“Our office is really invested in this,” adds Stanton. “It’s something where we identified a need and we’re trying to get the information out there. We’re more than willing to come talk to groups.”
“There’s no magic erase button. You are responsible for the content you create,” stresses Stanton. “We want you to be safe and aware.”
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