CAMDEN — By PATRIC FLANNIGAN
Staff writer
Members of the Camden Police Department visited the Camden Kiwanis Club on Thursday to talk about its various holiday activities.
CPD Media Specialist Dana Weatherbee, commander John Voss and officer Alec Faulkner spoke about the departments involvement with holiday projects and branching out to the community.
Voss stated that the department was originally tabbed to talk about safety tips regarding sexual predators on the internet but said because it was close to Christmas, he wanted to spend the bulk of his time speaking about a more lighthearted subject. He and Faulkner did provide safety tips and answered questions briefly towards the end of the meeting.
The department is doing its 8th annual Shop-with-a-cop project which will allow for children to select a cop to shop with them at Walmart. Voss stated that the limit was $75 per child last year, but this year it is $85. He also shared that Shop-with-a-cop will include children from East Camden and Bearden in addition to the children at Camden this year.
Voss emphasized that they want the child to get what they want, not what the parents tell them to get and that’s why parents have to stay up front while the children are shopping.
“We have done a lot this year,” Voss shared. “We are trying to open the police department up to groups like this and let ya’ll know that we are here to help. All you have to do is ask.”
CPD is partnering with Kindred Hospice for an Angel Tree Project for the first time this year. CPD has sponsored a hospice patient but will also give gifts to the other patients at the hospice.
CPD is also collecting gifts to give to 75 children in Camden between age 0-12. Weatherbee said that the department still needs help with providing gifts for the 10-12 age children.
Voss and Faulkner then spoke about avoiding illegal movies and music on the internet because that is one of the main avenues used to spread child pornography. Voss emphasized that viewing such material is against the law.
Faulkner explained that the Arkansas State Police is able to monitor certain activities in Little Rock through a state and national unit known at Internet Crimes Against Children. He said the purpose of the group is to stop the distribution and consumption of harmful images involving children by using several internet based techniques.
Faulkner said that it is important to use a password for your wifi so no one can use it to download any type of child pornography because it will be traced back to the used router. He added that it important to make sure computer have an up-to-date anti virus and that it is not a bad idea to consider fire walls. Faulkner added that parents should also stress how important it is to avoid speaking to strangers on social media.
Voss said that a lot of the sensitive material comes from other countries but there is still some that originates here.
“We live in a great country, let me tell you,” Voss said. “I’ve been over seas. I’ve served in the military. These third world countries… there’s no values to human life over there. You get caught up in some stuff and they will just take your kids from you and they make these kids do this type of stuff. I’m not saying it doesn’t happen here, but the worst of it comes from over there.”
Voss also referenced the recent arrest of more than 30 sexual predators in Dallas County that was a part of an operation led by the Dallas County Sheriffs Office and Sparkman Police through the use of fake social media accounts.