As part of Crime Prevention Week, the NSW Police Keeping Me Safe program is designed to empower young children to identify safe people and places when they are walking to and from school, at home or when they are frightened.
Keeping Me Safe will educate children about finding safe places in their own home or out in the community; identify safe people for children to turn to; build assertiveness and confidence; and help children identify when they are no longer safe.
The program also targets parents, teachers and carers and will be presented to primary school students by youth liaison officers.
Mascot, Charlie the Police Penguin, will help communicate key safety messages to children in a non-threatening, interactive and fun way. Crime prevention strategies include bullying and harassment workshops, and cyber crime awareness.
The Keeping Me Safe program replaces the now defunct Safety House Program.
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A string of serious water incidents involving children over the last month has prompted NSW Ambulance to ask everyone to take extra care when in and around water.
Ambulance crews have been kept busy responding to over 15 drowning events involving children under five and, sadly, a number of these have resulted in a loss of life.
To help keep children safe:
Always supervise children when in or around the water;
Never rely on someone else to watch children;
Educate children on water safety including storm water drains, baths and pools;
Always swim between the flags at the beach and obey instructions given by lifeguards;
Don't drink alcohol when supervising children around water;
Be aware of unsecured water around the home like rain water collection, creeks and dams.
Dial Triple Zero (000) and ask for Ambulance in case of emergencies. CPR charts are available from www.ambulance.nsw.gov.au.
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P arents are being urged to learn about the internet and, in particular, ways to protect their children from cyber predators ahead of the summer school holidays.
Detective Inspector Paul Jacob, from the Child Protection and Sex Crimes Squad, said children were at greatest risk from online predators during holidays, in the evenings and on weekends.
"Some online chat rooms and social networking sites have proven to be dangerous destinations for children who are unsupervised," he said. "Without sufficient information and guidance to ward off approaches from sexual predators, young people can expose themselves
without realising the consequences."
Detective Inspector Jacob said the rules taught to children about meeting new people in the real world also apply when they meet and chat with people online.
"You wouldn't talk to a stranger in the street for several hours, and you wouldn't tell a stranger your age, address, school or mobile phone number," he said.
Tips include:
Limiting the amount of time a child spends online;
Talk to children about the dangers associated with online conversations;
Learn about your child's favourite websites;
Keep the computer in a room the whole family accesses; and
Consider installing filtering and/or computer blocking software.
Parents should immediately contact their local police station if their child has received child pornography, has been sexually solicited, or has received sexually explicit images.
If any of these scenarios occur, parents should keep the computer turned on in order to preserve evidence.
Tips for young people include:
Don't send a picture of yourself to someone you dont know and never place a full profile and picture anywhere on the internet;
Never give out personal information including your name, home address, phone number or school;
Never arrange a face-to-face meeting with someone you have only chatted with on the internet;
Tell your parents or another adult of any contact online that makes you feel uncomfortable.
Additional information on cyber safety, including a brochure called Who's chatting to your kids?, is available for parents and young people by visiting:
www.police.nsw.gov.au or www.netalert.gov.au.
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