DHS launches Youth Online Safety Program

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The Department of Homeland Security is promoting its know2protect campaign in the Rio Grande Valley.

This online safety program is targeted toward parents and children before the summer break and focuses on educating children and their parents about the risks of sexual exploitation and abuse on the internet.

Rio Grande Valley Department of Homeland Security Agent Mark Lippa introduced the program and warns parents to be aware of online dangers.

“Here in the Rio Grande Valley, we have agents that have been specially trained and are dedicated to investigating these types of crimes," said Lippa. "We have had cases here in the valley where predators from outside the valley come to the valley to exploit our children here.”

Lippa says online sexual exploitation victims are largely tweens and teenagers and that is why the know2protect program is designed to inform more than just their guardians.

“There’s several important goals," said Lippa. "One is to just pull out the public awareness of this growing epidemic. Secondly, we wanted to be able to educate a wide audience from children to parents and to educators.”

He stresses that parents and relatives should communicate with their children to understand their online presence and know that contact with strangers is possible through phones, computers and gaming consoles.

As well as informing the public, the program also provides health and educational resources for victims.

Agent Mark Lippa gives parents some tips to better understand the problem and protect their children.

“Some specific tips for parents are to have open two-way communications with their children they need to know who they’re communicating with, they need to be making sure they’re not communicating with strangers who could actually be predators, and they want to be able to monitor their social media," said Lippa.