Social Network Predators Are On The Rise

Facebook, Twitter, and online chat rooms are where many people spend the majority of their day and now many criminals are joining in on that trend.

Police say it's becoming a very dangerous playing field for predators to reach children.  

 
"All of these advances in technology have made it easier for child predators to monitor the activities of helpless children from behind a screen," explained Sgt. Rachel David.

The Dothan Police Department said parents are often stuck in the mentality that they are snooping around in their child's life and they are afraid to step in.

However, police say monitoring from parents can often keep a tragedy from occurring because many times a child doesn't recognize how easy it is to pretend you are someone else online; and children often think they are giving out information to a friend.

Police said parents should set limited hours for their child to spend online, teach them red flags to look for and always have a copy of their password to social media profiles.