Parents Urged Awareness on Teen “Sexting”

The Calgary Police Service has partnered with the Calgary Catholic School District, Calgary Board of Education, Alberta Health Services and the Canadian Centre for Child Protection to raise awareness around “sexting.”

In the last year, cases of teen suicide following situations involving explicit photos of the teens being distributed among peers have made national headlines. In Calgary, police officers, teachers, counselors, nurses and doctors are all working diligently behind the scenes to manage the devastating after effects of similar situations on local teens.

During the school year, students and parents are able to access support through their schools when issues related to digital safety arise. Students learn about safe practices when using the internet, social media tools and other digital devices such as smart phones. As schools let out for the summer, parents are asked to keep a close eye on their children’s online activities and seek help should they notice concerning behavior.

"At the Calgary Board of Education, we are committed to working with students, parents, our partners, including police, to address the complex issues around this community problem," says Nancy Lukey, System Principal, Learning Services with the Calgary Board of Education

Since the beginning of the year, CPS has investigated more than a dozen cases of teens involved in “sexting.” However, these are often only the extreme cases that have been reported to police and may not reflect the number of actual cases that are handled by families, schools, counselors, or health workers.

“These cases are often complex investigations, however many of them are less about the ability to charge someone with a criminal offense, and more about education, prevention and providing the right resources for victims,” says Acting Inspector Mike Bossley.

“Calgary Catholic is focused on building resilient students that are able to make smart choices in relation to digital safety and appropriate use of technology. Working with student and parents, our goal is to empower students to make the right choices as responsible digital citizens,” says Richard Svoboda, Director, Instructional Services Secondary for the Calgary Catholic School District.

“Many youth have an inability to see future consequences to sexting,” says Debbie Molloy, Manager, Access Mental Health, Alberta Health Services. “Even if these sexts are deleted, you never know where sexually explicit messages, images or video will end up. This can emotionally impact young people now, as well as later in life.”

Anyone involved in a “sexting” incident is encouraged to call the non-emergency police number 403-266-1234 to report it, or report it anonymously through cybertip.ca. Solutions can be explored for removing material from servers. A step-by-step guide for teens or their parents on how to get through a self-peer exploitation incident can be found at NeedHelpNow.ca.

Signs your teen may be experiencing side-effects of online exploitation:

Sad or crying frequently
Displays of anger
Loss of appetite
Loss of interest in activities, hobbies or sports
Not wanting to attend school
A sudden change in their activity level on their own social media platforms

An advisory with details on an availability around this issue has been sent to media.