Cops go to schools in bid to fight online child abuse

Amid a spurt in cases of online child abuse, the Delhi police’s special unit for women and children has begun conducting special sessions in schools to educate students about do’s and don’ts in the cyberspace.

Around 33 schools and 15,000 students have so far been covered under the outreach programme that started on November 2, said Varsha Sharma, deputy commissioner of police of the special police unit for women and children (SPUWAC).

Special commissioner of police (women safety, airport and modernisation) Sundari Nanda had written to private and government schools requesting them to organise such sessions.

As many as 468 schools have expressed willingness to hold such sessions for their students.

The sessions educate children about the pitfalls of their innocent actions online.

“The presentation talks about how uploading a picture on one’s social media profile can lead online predators to track their location and expose them to severe dangers. There are also other topics like cyberbullying that are dealt with in the presentation,” the officer said.

These sessions are usually conducted by policemen in school auditoriums and morning assemblies and after the sessions, students are also given a feedback form to fill, Ms Sharma said. These sessions are being conducted by probationary sub-inspectors from the Northeast who are in-charges of the 10 teams comprising a constable and head-constable.

“Through this outreach programme, we are fulfilling twin goals — the first one of educating the students about online child abuse and the second one of introducing our smart officers from the Northeast region. Students will get to know that they can approach these officers in case they are in distress and that they are part of the mainstream,” the officer said. The officers from the Northeast also attend Hindi language classes every Sunday so that they can interact with people easily.

“These officers speak in Hindi and English at the sessions and it makes the students relate to them,” said another officer.