December 5, 2014 at 4:56 p.m.
Internet Crimes Against Children task force agent tells students, parents about the dark side of technology
Internet Crimes Against Children task force agent tells students, parents about the dark side of technology
In a joint press release issued last month, the district and the sheriff's office announced they have concluded their investigation into sexting on and off school premises and will not be pursuing criminal charges against any student. Some 35 students were investigated as part of the probe. The students found to have sexted while on school grounds received suspensions.
(Sexting is defined as the sending of sexually explicit photos, images, text messages, or emails by using a cellphone or other mobile device.)
According to the release, authorities concluded that the filing of charges "could be detrimental to the future of the students and, in turn, could be harmful to our community as these students will not be allowed to enter certain occupations."
"Instead, the district and the Oneida County Sheriff's Office are partnering to take an educational approach to this issue for our community," the release states.
Szatkowski spoke to all students in grades four through 12 during daytime sessions and held a special presentation for almost 100 adults in the evening.
He has worked as special agent with the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation for 23 years and is currently assigned to the state's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force in Milwaukee. He routinely works undercover to arrest sexual predators and pedophiles.
Szatkowski began both presentations with an overarching lesson.
For the high school presentation, Szatkowski told the students he hopes that, after hearing about the things he's seen and encountered while doing his job, they will realize how dangerous technology can be. He said that realization is an important one for the students not only so they will make changes to keep themselves safe, but will help teach younger kids how to be safe as well.
"What I hope you're going to get out of this today by looking at the work that I do, you're going to get some ideas on the dangers that are out there. Hopefully, you're going to learn some things about what you can do to make sure your experiences with technology are safe, respectful, healthy," he said.
"You are role models for your little brothers and sisters, for your nieces and nephews, for your cousins, because they will look toward you. They will often imitate the behavior that they see you guys doing using technology. Never, ever sell yourself short on the important roles that you have as teachers for young people."
Szatkowski told the students technology is a privilege and that respect must be shown when utilizing it - respect for others and yourself.
"When you get the privilege to use all that technology - whether you get it through your parents or the school - it's a privilege," Szatkowski said. "The way you keep that privilege is to be respectful - respectful to yourselves and respectful to other people. Really, in a sentence, that's probably the most important thing you can remember today - use it respectfully."
In speaking to the adults, Szatkowski began by stressing that parents are the front-line defense against the misuse of technology.
"I'm really appreciative that you came to listen to me tonight because, moms and dads, you are the front line in this war that we're fighting. You are on the team and you are on the front lines," he said. "When you think about it, where are our kids getting hurt? Maybe at some point out on the street or at a friend's house, but primarily right under your noses with technology that you bought and paid for and turned over to your kids. The predators are trying to get at your kids while they're at home using technology."
Diving into his case studies, Szatkowski started by talking about the most dangerous aspect of recent technological innovations - the enabling of sexual predators.
He told the students they have to be on the lookout for not only windowless vans occupied by unsavory characters offering candy, but other forms of "stranger danger." With the rise of social media and apps, predators are reassessing their strike plans, he said.
He told a story about a middle school student who decided to walk home but never made it because she was abducted, sexually assaulted and murdered. That's a story of an "old-fashioned predator," Szatkowski said. They've changed their ways, though.
"They still exist and we still need to be concerned about them. the ones I'm talking about now, though, are very capable of doing exactly the same thing, but there's one big difference - they do not approach young people like that monster, cold on the street," he said.
"Their approach will be very friendly. They will send a friend request, a text message, maybe they'll get on a gaming system and say something through their microphone, or maybe they'll send an email. They want to be your friend."
"They do that to gain the trust and confidence of young people so that you will share personal information - pictures, videos, cellphone numbers - and then they use all that information to sexually exploit young people," he added.
Szatkowski took the conversation a step further when addressing the adults. He told them it's not just adult predators they need to be worried about, it's other kids.
"We've moved to a place in our culture and our society where it's not just these predators trying to do this to children, but it's our children themselves that are doing this to one another as part of a dating experience," he said. "Technology has enabled (predators) to videotape and record and do things that we would think are unimaginable. That's something that we also need to be aware of."
To take some of the tools away from predators, Szatkowski told parents to turn off location tracking software and apps. Furthermore, he said parents need to teach their kids to reject friend requests from strangers, much like parents used to teach kids not to talk to strangers on the street.
"My suggestion is to get into your devices and your kids' devices, you go to the location services menu and turn it off and then GPS capabilities are disabled," he said.
"What do you want your kids to do when they get friend requests from people they don't know? Decline it. Reject it. But what do a lot of kids do? They accept it. Kids think they're invincible, that nothing's going to happen to them, that they can handle it, but they need to know the dangers of accepting requests from strangers."
Szatkowski also recommended students and parents remove file-sharing software.
"My advice on file sharing - get rid of it," he said. "Even if you're not looking for this type of material (pornography), you're going to bring Trojans, malware, viruses, we've heard about people's webcams getting turned on, it's not good. I would stay away from it."
Moving on from file sharing to online gaming, Szatkowski told a story about a sexual predator who used his X-Box to play games with kids. He eventually persuaded the children to send him pictures and videos.
"You must be very, very careful who you're communicating with on these gaming systems," he told the students. "You just never know who's on the other end."
To take more control over the situation, Szatkowski told parents it's wise to prohibit kids from using headphones and microphones while gaming online.
"My advice about gaming systems - your kids don't need to talk to and they don't need to listen to these people," he said.
He then told a story about a predator who attempted to get young girls to run away with him after meeting them on the online game "Thirst of Night." He also told a story about another predator who used a similar tactic while playing Tic-Tac-Toe with young girls online.
The moral of the stories for the students, he said, was that no one ever expects to be exploited.
"No one ever thinks it can happen to them, but it can happen to anyone," he said.
The mother of the girl playing Tic-Tac-Toe found out about the messages and pictures and put an end to it. She did not contact the authorities, however, which Szatkowski said is a mistake. He encouraged the young people and their parents to always contact police if they believe a sexual predator has made contact.
"It's very important, if you become aware of a situation like this, ... to reach out for help," he said. "We can't help people unless we know what's going on. And that help is not only for that moment, the young person who's being hurt at that moment, it's for all the kids that could be getting hurt in the future."
Because of the amount of time that had elapsed between when the mother found out about the Tic-Tac-Toe predator and when she eventually contacted the police, that predator is still at large, Szatkowski said.
It was a different story for the "Thirst for Night" predator. He was apprehended before he picked up his victim because the girl's father routinely checked her devices and discovered that she was communicating with the man.
That story led Szatkowski to another important point for parents. As uncomfortable as it may be to check kids' devices, it needs to be done, he said.
"Your number one job is to protect your kids and that includes checking their technology," he said. "You give technology to your kids and that's a privilege - don't forget that. I think you need to have an agreement with your kids that you have the right to check their stuff because you're doing your number one job."
"If you have a problem checking your kid's stuff, I have three words for you - get over it," he added. "You know how many predators are in prison because parents do their number one job? I know it's uncomfortable. You want to trust your kids. I don't care how you do it, but you must do it. Some parents say to their kids that it's not that they don't trust (their kids), but that they don't trust everyone else. Then they lay out the agreement."
Szatkowski reminded both groups that it's impossible to pick out a sexual predator in a crowd as many exhibit no outward sign they are involved in criminal behavior.
To illustrate that point, Szatkowski told a story about a predator who attempted to contact a girl via social media. The man was actually talking to Szatkowski who was working undercover. The man's goal was to get the girl to fly out to New York to meet him. When he was arrested, law enforcement officials were surprised to learn that he was an attractive, well-built construction worker who many people would deem "normal looking."
"We had to use two pairs of handcuffs to hook him up because we couldn't get his arms all the way behind his back, he was so built," Szatkowski said. "This is a cliche, but it's so true. You can't judge a book by its cover. You never know."
To further drive the point home, Szatkowski told another story. This one was about one of the only times in his career when he was taken aback by what he saw.
He began by explaining that he worked closely with his church's Christian Formation Director while his daughter was going through the First Communion process.
A few years later, as he was working on a sting operation, he and his fellow officers were waiting for a van to show up. When it appeared, they approached it to take down the predator.
"We move in to make the arrest and for the first time in my career, I freeze. Because when I get close enough to look through the windshield, that's who's driving," he said.
Even more frightening for parents, it's not only strangers who may be a danger to their kids, Szatkowski said.
"Most young people are not exploited or hurt by these strangers. They're exploited by people in their circle of life - friends, family, people who have access to them," he said.
Szatkowski then moved on to the world of sexting. He began by stressing to the students that they must always be proud of what they post online, because it stays online forever.
This includes photos or videos taken using Snapchat, an app that is supposed to automatically delete pictures and videos after a certain amount of time.
"Can you imagine ... knowing that the sexual things that you did are all over the Internet to be traded, shared forever? Forever," he said.
"If you're not proud of what you're doing in front of a camera - a web camera, a cellphone camera - don't do it, because you never know who's watching, who's saving it, who's recording it, who's sharing it. That's a mistake that cannot be undone."
"Your online resume is being built now," he added. "Your bad decisions now can literally come back to haunt you forever."
Szatkowski told the students that sexting is legal only if both parties are at least 18 years old. If either party is under the age of 18, it's child pornography.
"When I talk about this issue, I like to remind people it is not sexting if the person is under the age of 18. It's self-produced child pornography," he said. "Just like the age of consent for sex in Wisconsin is 18 and anything under that is against the law, taking pornographic pictures can't be done. It's against the law."
"It could be three possible felonies," he added, before explaining that those under the age of 18 who share explicit pictures could be charged with the production of child pornography, the distribution of child pornography and/or possession of child pornography.
One danger those who sext don't often think about, Szatkowski said, is sextortion. He told the story of a boy from New Berlin who created a Facebook page pretending to be female and convinced over 30 of his fellow students to send him nude pictures. He then used those pictures to blackmail some of the kids into performing sex acts.
"There are reasons it's against the law for kids to take these types of pictures. I've told you about the predators who collect these types of pictures and put them on websites to trade. Nobody wants to be in that collection," he said.
"There's a word that we use in this business called sextortion - blackmail based on people's pornographic images or videos."
Don't believe the "big lie," Szatkowski told the students, referring to the myth that only one person will see a nude photo sent to a particular phone or email address.
"I'm going to tell you what I would tell my son or my daughter - if somebody asks you to disrespect yourself, to commit a crime because they want to get to know you better or because they like you or want to date you, you dump them and you dump them like a rock," he said.
"Because that person is all about themselves, not about you. You can do better. You can find someone that cares about you for who you are as a person, not as an object. They'll give you the big lie - it's just for me, honest. I won't share it with anybody, I promise. Until you break up. Then it's payback time and those pictures go viral and get sent to everyone. ... That's why it's against the law, because young people can be damaged physically, psychologically, emotionally, forever. Forever."
"I would suggest modesty is the best policy when taking pictures," he added. "Privacy settings on these social sites, keep them as tight as you possibly can, and keep it to your real-life friends."
Szatkowski told the parents to instill strong moral values in their kids and develop a comfort level with them so they feel comfortable talking about these issues.
"You can only be around them so often. You can only look over their shoulder so often. They're going to go to their friend's house. They're going to go to the Wi-Fi hotspot. They're going to go to a sleepover or slumber party, and the peer pressure is going to be there. The temptations are going to be there. They're going to have to reach way down into their memory and pull out those values that you've been teaching them, and hopefully that will keep them away from the stuff I'm talking about tonight. That's the best filter," he said.
"Please talk to your kids about this stuff. Develop a comfort level with them so that when something happens, they come to you and they share this with you. Don't take their heads off. Discipline, yes. Protection, yes. But do it in a loving manner. If you don't, your kids won't tell you anything. They look to you as their protector, so be their protector."
An important aspect of teaching kids how to be safe online is teaching them about healthy relationships, Szatkowski said.
"Have you had the conversation with your sons and your daughters about what a real relationship should be built on? Have you told your daughters that if some boy expects you to take pornographic pictures of yourself, to break the law, to send them to him as a condition of dating or to prove your love to him, to dump him and dump him now? They need to find someone who loves them for who they are on the inside," he said.
"Same goes for the boys. It's disrespectful. It's against the law. It's not what real relationships are built on. You need to have those conversations."
Szatkowski concluded the presentations by offering each group a final message.
"This presentation can be very much of a downer, but this is reality," he told the students.
"This is the way it is. It's very, very important to make good decisions. We all make mistakes and we need to deal with those mistakes as best as we can. And never, ever forget, you're role models."
The role model aspect was an important part of Szatkowski's final thoughts for parents.
"Why is it important to share your values and your virtues with your kids? Why must you be role models for them? Because if you aren't and you don't, the culture will fill up that vacuum," he said. "Never forget that your kids are looking at you as examples and role models and hopefully you're all doing the right thing. You've got so much to talk to your kids about now. Maybe we can prevent kids from making bad decisions or getting in trouble or getting approached or getting bullied. If it does happen, maybe we're a little more empowered now to work together as a team and talk about it."
"We can work together and protect our kids from getting involved in these situations," he added. "Is it easy? Heck no. It is harder being a parent now than ever before, primarily because of what I've been talking about tonight. But don't give up and don't give in."
Marcus Nesemann may be reached at [email protected].
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