Maine news, sports, weather from Waterville Morning Sentinel

Area officials fear growth of 'sexting' among youth

Lewd photos and bullying are often the result

By Amy Calder acalder@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

Police Officer Tracey Frost's mantra these days is telling students that once nude photos of them go from cell phone to cyberspace, they can never be deleted.

When students apply for jobs, employers looking at social networking sites may see the nude photos; a background check can also turn up the pictures.

"Sexting essentially is very popular among teens," Frost, school resource officer at Messalonskee High School in Oakland, said. "They like to take pictures of themselves with cell phones when they are topless or completely nude. They will send those images to other kids -- like a dating business card."

Both boys and girls do this, he said.

"They take pictures of their private area, send them to a friend and say, 'Would you like to date?'"

Frost spends much of his time dealing with problems that arise when nude photos of a student are sent by text message from one student cell phone to another and beyond.

"A typical case for us is a girl or boy approaches the school resource officer and says, 'I broke up with so-and-so, but he's got a lot of pictures of me. Can you get rid of them?'" Frost said. "The next thing you know, the pictures are on the Internet and from there you can't get them back. We've had cases where young girls are contacted by 30-year-old men trying to solicit them for sex."

Frost said he typically talks to the boy who has the nude photos and asks that he delete all of the images from his cell phone. He also calls the boy's parents and asks to go through his laptop and computer at home. Often, parents are totally unaware of their child's activities.

"Parents are horrified by this," Frost said.

One girl broke up with her boyfriend, the boyfriend posted photos of her on YouTube, and then told his friends to look at them, according to Frost.

"It was just devastating for this girl," he said.

The activity is widespread nationwide and an alarming number of dating teens are being manipulated, threatened and humiliated via cell phones and Web sites, according to Dede Bartlett, an expert on domestic violence issues who lectures all over the world.

"The problem goes by many names: textual harassment, sexting, digital abuse, cyber-stalking," Bartlett said. "What they all mean is that advances in technology can lead to dangerous behaviors for many teens and tweens (children between middle childhood and adolescence), and parents and kids need help in dealing with these situations."

Bartlett spoke Thursday night at Thomas College in Waterville to an audience of students, staff, parents, children and law enforcement officials.

A Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow, Bartlett has served on many board and committees dealing with domestic violence, including as chairwoman of the board of the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

"The world our kids are living in is complicated and scary," she said.

She advised that school officials, parents, grandparents, students and police work together to teach youths about healthy relationships.

She also advised that parents take away their children's cell phones and other devices during meals and overnight, because some children text-message all night long without parents' knowledge.

Parents also should ask their children to teach them technology, she said.

"Cops are telling me the most appalling stories about what they're finding, about what tweens are putting out there on the Internet, and parents don't know this," Bartlett said.

Fairfield police Officer Karen O'Donnell is school resource officer at Lawrence High and Lawrence Middle schools and gets involved when sexting or harassment issues arise.

She said she dealt with a case in which a boy had a nude photo of his girlfriend, which had been sent to him by the girlfriend. When they broke up, he sent the photo to all the contacts on his cell phone.

The girl's mother got the photo because the girl had previously used her mother's phone and the mother's name was among the list of contacts, according to O'Donnell. The incident was used at the junior high as a teaching tool, she said.

"At the high school, students just don't think it's wrong," O'Donnell said, referring to sexting.

Like Bartlett, O'Donnell said the photos may show up on social networking sites that college officials view when considering applicants.

"(Students) don't realize the damage that can be done, especially when it comes to scholarships and placement in classes," O'Donnell said.

At Messalonskee, students are allowed to use cell phones between classes and at lunch, but not during class. Frost said they are so adept at texting, they can do it under their desks, without looking at their cell phones. At Lawrence High School in Fairfield, students are required to turn cell phones off betweem 7:20 a.m. and 1:45 p.m.

Waterville police Officer Alan Main, who is resource officer for Waterville schools and is at Waterville Senior High School one day a week, said he has not had sexting cases reported to him, but has dealt with cases involving harassment by cell phone.

Both Main and Deputy police Chief Charles Rumsey said it is important for police to be up to speed on emerging trends in technology.

Crimes related to theft, harassment, child pornography, domestic violence and other issues now commonly have some technology aspect, they said.

"Part of the challenge for us is that social norms are changing and the technology is changing at a much faster pace than the laws," Rumsey said.

Frost, in Oakland, takes classes to keep up with that technology so he knows what students are doing -- and so he can help.

"If you don't text, you don't speak their language," he said.

Frost gives his cell phone number to all students at the school. He receives between 50 and 60 text messages a day from students and some alert him to fights that are going to happen or about students being bullied.

"I'll get a text message before anyone will come into my office, " he said. "I'll see girls sitting next to each other, texting each other instead of talking. This is not a generation where kids do a lot of face-to-face interaction."

Both Frost and Bartlett say some youths harass others by texting day and night.

"That was my whole day today, girls texting each other, calling each other names," he said Thursday. "It's technological bullying and the difference is, 20 or 30 years ago when you got home, you were typically safe. Nowadays with the advent of technology, they can be bullied 24 hours a day."

Frost notes that storing nude photos of youths constitutes possessing child pornography and transmitting such photos constitutes furnishing child pornography. So far, no students at Messalonskee have been charged with those crimes, he said.

"But if a kid is convicted of this, they're on the sex offender registry for the rest of their lives."

Bartlett said teens nationwide report being texted many times a day by a dating partner wanting to know where they are, what they are doing and whom they're with.

Warning signs a youth is the target of cyber-bullying, digital abuse or sexting, according to Bartlett:

* Spending long hours on a home computer.

* Being secretive about online activities.

* Behavior changes and claims to be doing homework online, when actually in chat groups (sometimes accompanied by falling behind in school work).

* Fear of leaving the house.

* Crying for no apparent reason.

* Lack of interest in social events.

* Lowered self-esteem.

* Frequent visits to school nurse or office, complaining of feeling sick; asking for parent to come and take him or her home.

Amy Calder -- 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com

RESOURCES

* National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline: 866-799-7244, www.loveisrespect.org

* National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7244, www.ndvh.org

* Break the Cycle Helpline: 888-988-teen, www.breakthecycle.org

* Talking the Talk: www.cyberbullying.ca