Kids Sexting Happens 'On a Daily Basis': Harford County Detective

Nude selfies was one topic covered in Bel Air Monday night during a workshop about protecting children online.

“Sexting is increasing,” Vince DeVivo of the U.S. Attorney’s Office told a crowd at Mt. Zion United Methodist Church, under “The Tent” off Route 22.

A representative from the Harford County Child Advocacy Center echoed the surge in “sexting,” or sending sexually explicit photos and messages.

“We see on a daily basis...the child pornography, the sexting, the online predators,” Det. Joe Dugan said.

One of his colleagues in the audience just started an investigation involving more than 4,000 images and over 200 videos. “A lot of that is self-produced, and that’s right here in Harford County,” said Dugan.

Officials said those sending explicit pictures of themselves are younger than you might think.

“The median age of those taking naked selfies is middle school,” said DeVivo, who keeps tabs on trends across the state as the community outreach specialist for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.

It’s important to be proactive and talk to kids about their actions since ”legislation hasn’t caught up...” to the technology, DeVivo said.

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If there are nude selfies on your child’s phone, “the most important thing to do” is to keep the photos and notify law enforcement, DeVivo said.

Resist the urge to delete a nude picture immediately because detectives will need it so they can track the IP address to identify the person and stop the behavior, he said.

Also, don’t treat the child as the one who did something wrong, DeVivo said, which he said would be “turning the victim into the perpetrator.” He advised creating an environment where kids know they can come to their parents if they see something disturbing online without fear they will be told they did something wrong.

In Harford County, Dugan said that only once in three or four years has he seen a child charged in a case involving nude pictures, which he said was ”a very particular case.”

The Harford County Child Advocacy Center can help do what Dugan called “damage control for your child,” by helping to delete the image(s) from the internet to prevent pictures from showing up later.

DeVivo offered this rule of thumb: “Never take images of yourself that you wouldn’t want everyone to see.”

He showed a clip from the Today show of an elementary school teacher in Oklahoma who posted a letter on Facebook to show her students how fast their pictures could travel. Within hours it went viral worldwide.

The Harford County Child Advocacy Center is available online; at 23 N. Main Street in Bel Air; and by phone at 410-638-3294.

Community Outreach Specialist for the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Vince DeVivo speaks about sexting during a presentation on internet safety in Bel Air on March 30. Photo Credit: Elizabeth Janney.