ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) – As kids head back to school, local parents and law enforcement experts are taking extra precautions to make sure the apps on the phones their children are using are safe, especially in light of recent sex crimes filed against two area teachers.
Experts say any texting app on any smartphone can be a way for predators to communicate with children. Snapchat, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, even FaceTime, are free and easy to use for anyone to use. Even scheduling apps like Saturn, designed to help kids keep school schedules straight, can leave a child vulnerable to unwanted messages. That is why parents say monitoring who their kids are communicating with is the best way to keep them safe.
“It can only be friends, of course,” stateline parent Savon Blosser said about who can communicate with her daughter. “I monitor her texts. We can go in and read her texts. And she knows she can only email her teachers.”
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