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Little 12 year old Jessica could hear what sounded like footsteps behind her as she was walking home after school one day.

The thought of her being followed made her heart beat a little faster, and her feet move a little quicker in anxiousness to get home. "You're being stupid," she told herself, "There's nobody following you." She couldn't help walking faster, but she refused to give in to the fear and run all the way home. The scary thing was, she could still hear the footsteps behind her, and no matter how fast she walked. She kept talking to herself over and over "I'm almost home, I'm almost home." to keep her mind off the footsteps behind her.

As she approached her house, she saw the porch light on, opened the door, yelled a quick "I'm home." to her Mom and ran upstairs to her bedroom. She rushed to the window to see if anyone was there, if the footsteps she heard were real. She felt a weight off her shoulders and was relieved to see the sidewalk was empty.

After getting a snack to munch on, she decided to go online while waiting for dinner to be served. Jessica logged onto the chat room, using her screen name SoccerBaby#1. She saw that her online friend, Miss Brat was on. She sent her an instant message, and the conversation went something like this:

SoccerBaby#1: "Hi. I'm glad you're on; I need to talk. I had a creepy feeling somebody was following me home today. Was really freakn' me out, big time."

Miss Brat: "LOL, girlfriend, you watch WAYYY too much TV. Why would somebody be following you home? Don't you live in a safe neighborhood?"

SoccerBaby#1: "Of course I do. Guess my imagination was running away with me, like it does sometimes when I'm home alone after school and I think I hear things outside. LOL `Cuz I didn't see anybody when I looked outside."

Miss Brat: Could it have been somebody you know? Did you ever give your real name out online?"

SoccerBaby#1: "Duh. No. What, do ya think I'm stupid?"

Miss Brat: "No, I was just playing with you. Did you have a soccer game today?"

SoccerBaby#1: "Yeah, and we won."

Miss Brat: " Good for you. Who'd you all play?"

SoccerBaby#1: "The Wild Cats. They have real girlie looking kitty cats on their uniform. They look yucky."

Miss Brat: " What's your team called?"

SoccorBaby#1: We are the called the Brooklyn Pirates. We have this mean looking pirate on our uniforms with a hook for an arm and an eye patch, and he looks like he's growling. I'm tellin' ya, we look fat, man."

Miss Brat; "What position do you play?"

SoccerBaby#1: "I'm the goalie. Oh, gotta go, Mom's calling that dinner's ready...later. ;-)

Miss Brat: "Ok, Peace."

Meanwhile.... Miss Brat went to the profile page on the member menu. When the screen name "SoccerBaby#1" was found, all the information was highlighted, and she printed it out.

Miss Brat looked at all the information she had so far about SoccerBaby#1. Her name was Jessica and her birthday was July 13, 1991, so that made her 12 years old. The profile page said that Jessica lived in Florida. Her hobbies included soccer, skating, and poetry; also being with her girlfriends at the mall.

In addition, Miss Brat knew that Jessica lived in a city that had the word "Brooklyn" in it, because Jessica said that on the chat. She knew that Jessica was sometimes alone after school, until her parents got home. She knew she always played soccer, or had practice at least every Thursday, and the team was the Brooklyn Pirates. She knew she played the goalie, and was #1. It wouldn't be difficult to figure out which middle school had a soccer team with that team name.

Jessica had told Miss Brat all this information during the conversation they had online. Miss Brat had enough information to find SoccerBaby#1 in person now.

Back on the home front: Jessica didn't bother to tell her parents what happened on the way home from the field that day. She thought if they knew, they'd make her stop walking home, or even worse, make her quit the team. In Jessica's mind, her parents were worrywarts, and overreacted over the stupidest things. It made her wish she wasn't an only child, and that she had brothers; sisters, that way her parents wouldn't ask her 50 million questions she didn't want to answer all the time. "Where are you going? Who is going with you? What time will you be home?" they always ask. Jessica wished they weren't so protective, and would let her lead her life.

By the following Thursday, Jessica forgot all about the footsteps she thought she heard last week. While waiting for her teammates to get a goal at the other end of the field, Jessica felt like somebody was watching her. All of a sudden she got that pit in her stomach like she did last Thursday. She looked up at the bleachers and saw a man watching her intently. When he saw her look at him, he smiled and waved. He didn't look scary, so she shrugged off the feeling and continued playing her game.

After the game, while Jessica was talking with her coach, she saw the man again. Jessica began to walk home. As she passed the man sitting at the bleachers, he smiled, so she gave a small smile back. The man saw her name on the back of her shirt; he knew he found her. He followed behind Jessica as she walked home, but he was very quiet this time, so she didn't hear him. When Jessica walked up her driveway, he knew he definitely had the right girl. Now, he had to wait a few hours to make sure the timing was perfect.

Jessica was doing her homework in her room later on that evening when she heard voices downstairs. "Jessica, please come down here." She heard her father say in that tone of voice that said "NOW." She thought he sounded very upset with her and couldn't imagine why.

Jessica came down the stairs to find the mysterious man from the soccer field in her living room. "Sit down." Her father said. "This man has just told me an interesting story about you." Jessica was nervous and curious at the same time. What could this stranger possibly tell her dad? She had never seen him before today.

"Do you know who I am Jessica?" the stranger asked. Jessica shook her head no. "I am a police officer and your online friend, Miss Brat." the man said. Jessica was surprised, and exclaimed, "That's impossible. My online friend is a girl, and she's my age."

"No, Jessica. That's what I told you, but it wasn't true. You see, many people online pretend to be someone they aren't. Like I pretended to be a kid your age. There are a lot of bad people out there that find kids like I found you and hurt them. But, I belong to a group of parents who do it to help protect kids like you from predators. I came here to teach you how dangerous it could be if you give out too much information about yourself to people on the computer. You obviously told me enough information about yourself where I found you very easy."

Jessica sat in shock. "Miss Brat" wasn't a girlfriend her age at all. The police officer went on to tell Jessica, "Remember, you told me your age, your school, the position you played, the number on your jersey? It made it very easy to find you."

"You mean you don't live in New Jersey?" asked Jessica. "Nope, I live right here." The police officer said. "You wrote all that stuff about yourself because you thought I lived far away didn't you?" Jessica nodded yes. "Well," said the police officer, "It happened to a friend of mine; his daughter wasn't lucky like you. She was your age and was killed by someone she was talking to online. What happens is over a period of time; you give little bits of information. Before you know it, it adds up, and you've given your online friend enough information to find you, without your even realizing you've done it. I hope you've learned your lesson from this experience and won't do it again." "Oh yes." said Jessica, "I promise I'll pass the word on to all my friends."

I'm sure everyone would agree our children are our world's most valuable assets, yet they are the most vulnerable members of today's society. They represent the bright future of tomorrow and everyone's hopes for a better quality of life. Protecting our children against the fear of crime is always an important issue with parents. However, new technology in computer and telecommunications allows our children to explore new resources of knowledge and cultural interaction with strangers, leaving them vulnerable.

Not all parents may be aware of the hidden dangers children may encounter while operating online exploration. In its continual concern to protect the children of you community, the Police Department would like to emphasize some important Internet safety tips for both children and parents to be aware of:

Safety Tip #1: Talk over with your child the dangers, and set clear reasonable rules in your home for Internet usage. (The computer should be put in a well-populated room of the house, such as the family room, to properly monitor your child's activity.) Decide together when the child may go on- line, for how long, and what areas he/she may visit. Regularly spend time online together to learn about your child's interests and activities and make sure the child knows what you consider appropriate. Make sure children abide by the rules.

Safety Tip #2: Make sure the child understands that the Internet has "good" and "bad" places to visit. Some web sites (or links within a site) may include material promoting inappropriate ideas, meant for "adults-only," making children feel uncomfortable. If this does happen, tell your child to leave the site immediately and to tell you or a trusted adult about it. Much of the information found on-line is inaccurate, untrue or misleading.

Safety Tip #3: Instruct your child to NEVER give out personal identification (such as your name, home address, telephone number, password, credit card number or school) on the Internet without the permission of you, the parent or guardian. If anyone asks for this information, instruct your child not to respond, log off and to tell a trusted adult. Personal information and photos obtained on-line by the wrong person may be used in unauthorized ways.

Safety Tip #4: Always use good "NETIQUETTE" (rules or manners for interacting courteously with others online) while using the Internet.

* Keep it clean. If you use bad language, you may be kicked out.

* Do not type in all CAPITOLS. That's like shouting to someone.

* Read the posts in a newsgroup, or listen in a chat room for awhile, before you start typing. If you are thinking of posting to a newsgroup, read the FAQ (frequently asked questions) first. They're put in one place to keep "newbies" (newcomers) from wasting everyone's time.

* Don't scroll- repeating the same thing or hitting the return key over and over in a chat room.

* Do not "flame" (calling people names or attacking their opinions) Be sure to extend the same courtesy on the Internet that you would expect others to show you.

* Don't "spam" sending unwanted junk mail or advertising to groups that have no interest in it.

Safety Tip #5: Parents- be sure to check out the posts to a newsgroup before your child spends time there. Kids, make a list of the subjects for which you might like to find newsgroups. Think about your hobbies, items you collect, organizations you belong to, your schoolwork and your favorite TV shows, music, sports teams, and movies.

Safety Tip #6: If your screen name contains part of your name or gives other personal information such as your age or address, you should make sure to use a different screen name when using a chat room. You don't want strangers to be able to find your child in real life.

Safety Tip #7: Kids - Do not EVER answer a message that makes you feel threatened, confused scared, or uncomfortable. Do not respond, end the communication immediately (log off) and tell the adult in charge of your Internet use.

Safety Tip #8: NEVER arrange a face-to-face meeting with someone you meet online. Remember that you don't know who the people you are talking to on the Internet really are. An adult could pretend to be a kid, or a younger child could pretend to be older. (Unfortunately, there are dangerous individuals who utilize the Internet and chat rooms to gain the confidence of a child, in hopes to meet them in person and may hurt them.)

Safety Tip #9: Don’t accept anything that a stranger sends you over the Internet, including e-mails, files, or the address for a web site. If you do receive a message from a stranger, delete it without opening it. Being linked to the World Wide Web opens up a world of educational resources for our children. Homework help, connecting with places around the world, and learning to have fun together with online peers can increase your child's reading, comprehension and technical skills. By following a few simple guidelines to keep our children safe, we can make the future a bright place to look forward to.