Officers from the Michigan State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force distributed various internet safety supplies to Bad Ax students. (Photo by Seth Stapleton)
bad ax — Surviving adolescence in the digital age can present challenges that previous generations didn’t have to deal with.
Most of these challenges focus on computers, smartphones, and other forms of technology.
To help address these issues, several experts were at Bad Ax High School last week to talk to students about potential issues they may face in the digital world.
The presentation was hosted by John Brown, a digital forensics analyst with the Michigan State Police’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. Brown joins ICAC member Brian Pitt, Bad Ax School Resource Officer Kevin Knoblock and Bad Ax Police Officer Phil Deacons in the investigation.
The ICAC program was launched by the U.S. Department of Justice in 1998 to address emerging threats from criminals using the Internet or other online technologies to sexually exploit children.
Michigan’s ICAC task force, composed of more than 100 people and two network detection dogs, is part of a national network of 61 coordinating task forces representing more than 4,500 agencies. It is composed of law enforcement officers and civilians from local, state and federal agencies.
John Brown, a digital forensics analyst with the Michigan State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, spoke to Bad Ax students last week about the importance of internet safety.
These agencies continue to conduct proactive and reactive investigations and prosecutions of those involved in child abuse and exploitation on the Internet.
Brown said the task force is highly skilled in exploiting online tools used by child predators, using those tools to identify individuals who use the Internet to prey on children and conducting forensic examinations of digital evidence. Through this process, it has arrested numerous child predators by following leads and assisting in the removal of child sexual abuse material from the Internet.
The task force also works to educate children, parents, teachers and other community members about internet safety, which brought him to Bad Ax last week to speak with students at multiple scheduled times throughout the day.
Brown talks about how to protect against the dangers of online predators, the apps most commonly used by students and predators, cyberbullying, the three layers of the internet (including the dark web), access to inappropriate websites, sexting, sextortion and more. , grooming, dangerous online trends, digital forensics work, how proactive investigations work, secret chats and community outreach programs.
“The biggest takeaway is knowing who you’re talking to online,” Brown emphasized to the students. “Keep it private and don’t send photos you shouldn’t send.”
Brown went on to say that if kids happen to find themselves in trouble online — whether it’s cyberbullying, sextortion, grooming, anything — they should reach out to someone they trust for help. Keeping secrets is not the answer.
He then mentioned a program — OK2SAY — where students can confidentially report anything that might threaten student or school safety.
“You face a lot of dangers,” Bad Ax High School first-year principal Craig Archer told students after his speech. “…The most important thing is, if something happens, speak up. We are here to help.”
Ahead of this school year, Bad Ax changed its cellphone policy for students. The new policy, instituted by former principal Kurt Dennis, greatly limits students’ use of cellphones during school hours.
Archer said that while he still deals with cell phone-related issues at least weekly, other school officials have told him the new policy helped reduce many of the major incidents that occurred last school year.
Archer estimates that 90 percent of Bad Ax students have cell phones.