Pubdate: Tue, 18 Jan 2005 Source: Daily Journal (IN) Copyright: 2005 The Daily Journal, Johnson County, Indiana Contact: http://www.thejournalnet.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3461 Author: Jason Michael White Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?224 (Cannabis and Driving) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) POLICE REACH OUT TO HELP RESIDENTS Kids put on goggles and drive golf carts to simulate drunken driving. Children watch a video of talking animals saying no to drugs. Parents learn warning signs that their kids may be smoking marijuana. Nationwide, police are using community service programs such as these to get residents active in crime prevention, said Mike Ward, executive director of the Indiana Association of Chiefs of Police. The nationwide trend comes from a simple philosophy: A police department is an important part of the community and needs to reach out to residents, Ward said. Greenwood police are furthering that trend by starting two new community service programs: a workshop on avoiding online predators and a citizens academy. The programs are designed to make members of the community more aware of certain crimes and help them prevent those crimes. Measuring the success of community service programs is difficult, Ward said. For example, whether the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program is successful depends on what research people review. A 2003 congressional study that followed DARE graduates said the government-funded program does not affect whether students use drugs or alcohol. But various student groups surveyed while in the program said they were less likely to drink or do drugs. Part of what makes measuring community service success difficult is the way programs can be perceived, Ward said. Having a teenager drive a golf cart around cones while wearing blurry goggles does nothing to make the community safe. But if that teenager gets an understanding of what it is like to drink and drive, and therefore never drives while intoxicated, the golf course program succeeded. Even keeping one person away from drinking and driving would make the program a success, Ward said. "If one kid doesn't end up wrapped around a tree, then the good guys win," he said. Internet Predators No fancy gadgets or help from a computer technician is needed. Simple tools already built into the computer can help parents monitor their kids' Internet use. Greenwood police and school officials are planning a three-week workshop to teach students and parents how to avoid online predators. Internet predators stalk people online for personal information or to arrange meetings that often result in sexual assaults, Greenwood Assistant Police Chief Rick McQueary said. More than 20 percent of kids who use the Internet receive sexual solicitations, according to a congressional study. For example, a 29-year-old Franklin man chatted online with a 14-year-old Greenwood boy for a year before meeting and having sex with him in October, according to Franklin police. The workshop will teach kids how to avoid online stalkers and educate parents about warning signs that their children are being targeted by Internet predators. The workshop will focus on the technology aspect of cyberstalker prevention by teaching parents how to know what their kids have used the computer for. Computers keep history records of every Web site and chat room that users go to, McQueary said. Parents can learn how to look up computer history records to see if their kids have visited any inappropriate Web sites. Certain instant-messaging programs save copies of every online conversation on the computer, Police Lt. Bob Dine said. Parents can use these records to see if strangers are trying to get personal information or arrange meetings. Students will learn the dangers of giving out personal information online. Exchanging information can result in fraud or burglary, McQueary said. "There's a whole host of crimes that could be committed," McQueary said. "This is not just a sexual-harassment or sex-crime issue."Dine and school officials were still discussing times and dates for the workshops. Parents can contact the school or police department to sign up. McQueary said he would like the program to start in about three weeks. Citizens Academy Greenwood police want to show residents that officers do more than pull over cars and make drug busts. The police department is starting a citizens academy program to teach residents about how department employees and officers do their jobs, from the six staff members who manage the accident and crime records for the entire city to detectives who investigate crimes. "We want them to know exactly what their tax dollars are paying for," McQueary said. The Schererville Police Department in northwest Indiana started the first state citizens academy in 1994. Since then, the academies have sprouted across the state. Academies in central Indiana include the Marion County Sheriff's, Bloomington police and Columbus police departments. Greenwood's citizens academy would be the first in Johnson County. The academy will give residents a better understanding of how the police department operates and help expand neighborhood watch groups. Neighborhood watch groups are formed by residents who discuss local crime problems and solutions to those problems. They also monitor their neighborhoods for any strange activity and report that activity to police to prevent crimes such as burglary. Besides getting information for neighborhood watch groups, residents in the citizens academy program will: * Ride with police officers when they go out on patrol * Watch officers use the forensics lab to investigate crimes * Learn numeric codes that dispatchers use when sending police to accidents and crime scenes * Spend time with dispatchers who receive calls and send police to various assignments such as accident scenes and domestic disputes * Be able to request law-enforcement topics they want to learn more about. Police will perform background checks on individuals before letting them into the academy. Police officials are still discussing dates and times for the academy. McQueary said he hopes to start the program at the beginning of March. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth