Cranford PD Offers Internet Safety Training to Local Girl Scout Leaders

On Dec. 9, approximately 40 troop leaders and staff of the Cranford Service Unit of the Girl Scouts Heart of New Jersey Council received social media awareness and Internet safety training as part of their ongoing continuing education efforts.

The training was organized by service unit manager Kristin Santos on behalf of the Girl Scouts and the material was presented by Cranford Police Department Detective Robert Montague, a veteran investigator with 20 years of police experience and 8 years in adult and juvenile criminal investigations. The event was held at the Cranford Community Center.

Det. Montague briefed the assembled troop leaders on developing trends in teen and child Internet use, focusing on the most common social media and information sharing platforms such as Instagram, SnapChat, Ask.fm and others.

Attendees were reminded that most children today have never lived in a world without pervasive technology use, Det. Montague addressed potential safety issues with the various programs and provided the adults with available resource information for additional self-paced learning. 

“We can’t avoid technology in our society today,” Montague stated. “But we can arm ourselves with the information we need to use it safely and we can pass on good habits and awareness to our children.”

A question and answer session was also held to clarify many of the misconceptions held about child use of technology and media.

Cranford Chief Eric G. Mason praised the outreach effort and the cooperation with the Girl Scouts organization.

“Any time we have the opportunity to provide assistance and education to those community leaders who are in a position to positively influence our children, we will embrace that effort,” he said.