INTERVIEW: Internet safety for children and parents

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) - Internet Safety Month is winding down, but not before an important event takes place next week -- a virtual event -- “Protect Our Youth Online.” It will be held next Tuesday, featuring experts from around the world. Parents, educators and child-serving professionals are urged to participate.

They include an instructor at the National Criminal Justice Center at Fox Valley Technical College. Joe Laramie has over 30 years of child protection, investigative and training experience in law enforcement. He spent 9 years as the commander of the Missouri Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Laramie explains why parents will want to take part in the virtual event and what they can expect. CLICK HERE for the Protect Our Youth Online website.

In 2020, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children saw a staggering 97.5% increase in reports of suspected child sexual exploitation -- 21.7 million reports. The following year there were 29.3 million reports -- 29.1 million of those came from electronic service providers, and more specifically more than 22 million were reported by Facebook and over 3.3 million by Instagram.

Laramie talks about how kids and parents can do to make using those social media platforms safer.

And he discusses the challenges of training professionals at the National Criminal Justice Training Center when the technology and choice of platforms change so rapidly.

Watch his complete interview with Action 2 News at 4:30 anchor Chris Roth above.

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