POLICE are clamping down on young “cyber bullies” in the Bridgnorth area, after a number of criminal offences have been committed through social networking sites.
The offenders are mainly school children and young adults who may not realise they are committing crimes, but police have warned they may be prosecuted for hate crimes, starting rumours about other children or issuing threats.
Bridgnorth Police are working with local schools and social networking sites including Facebook and Bebo to track down offenders who are causing alarm and upset by their callous comments.
There are known cases in which victims of cyber-bullies in the Bridgnorth area have suffered quite severe distress, local police officer, PC Richard Wood, warned this week.
And he urged parents to keep a close eye on teenagers using their computers for social networking.
“Children do need supervision – and it’s not just about stranger danger,” he said. “Some young people are using the sites, which are meant to encourage friendships, for the wrong reasons, and creating ‘hate pages’ to attack individuals or groups of children.
“Parents need to be sure that their children are not targeting others with malicious communications, or causing harassment, alarm or distress. These are criminal activities, and may require police action to be taken.
“We don’t want to criminalise youngsters, but most of the children involved are old enough to know right from wrong, and should be aware that if they overstep the mark, they might be tracked down.
“We are concerned about an increase in young people using the internet to target others and are working with local schools in the Bridgnorth area, who are being very helpful.”
PC Matt Picken, who is also working to combat cyber-bullying, said: “There has been a massive increase in problems. Some young people will say things over the internet they would not say to someone face-to-face, or they make a remark about a third party which gets repeated back to them and causes upset.
“We are working with Facebook to remove information and in some cases the offenders will lose their Facebook accounts. Parents should be aware of these issues, and that there is also an added danger of identity theft if children put their photos on social networking sites and give out too much personal information.”
