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Child Safety on the Internet

Protect your child online.

Guidelines for Parents

  • Make it a family rule to never give out identifying information—home address, school name or telephone number—on public chat Web Sites or bulletin boards; and be sure you're dealing with someone that both you and your child know and trust before giving out this information via e-mail.
  • Get to know the Internet and any services your child uses.
  • Never allow a child to arrange a face-to-face meeting with another computer user without parental permission and supervision.
  • Never respond to messages or bulletin board items that are suggestive, obscene, belligerent, threatening or make you feel uncomfortable.
  • Encourage your children to tell you if they encounter such messages.
  • Talk with your children about what they can and cannot do online.
  • Check out blocking, filtering and ratings. Realize that filtering programs can't protect your child from all dangers in cyberspace. Filtering programs are not a substitute for good judgment or critical thinking. With or without filters, kids and their parents need to be Internet savvy.
  • Consider keeping the computer in a family room rather than a child's bedroom.
  • Get to know your children's online friends just as you get to know all of their other friends.

National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
See also Safekids and Safeteens

If You Suspect a Crime

  • Albuquerque Police Department's Child Exploitation Detail @ 505-761-4060
  • 24-hour child pornography tip line, 800-843-5678 and Cyber Tipline, Cybertipline, maintained by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
  • U.S. Customs Service Investigates the importation and trafficking of child pornography. Its jurisdiction includes smuggling via the Internet, 800-232-5378.

Additional Information

  • National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, Alexandria, VA, 800-843-5678.
  • Office for Victims of Crime, U.S. Department of Justice, 202-616-3585 or at
  • National Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families, Pure Hope 800-583-2964
  • Privacy Rights "Children in Cyberspace" fact sheet.

APD Crime Prevention 505-768-2006