Every parent's worst nightmare is that their child becomes a victim of sexual assault from sexual predators. These sexual predators have begun to use social media outlets to lure children of all ages without their parents, teachers, or guardians being aware of what is happening. These efforts are happening in Idaho and across the country.

A group of parents, businesses, law enforcement, and concerned citizens are meeting in Caldwell on Thursday night to teach you how to keep your kids safe. LoveCaldwell, The Flying M Coffee House, and the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Coalition are sponsoring a public workshop Thursday, January 5th, at 7:00 PM at the Flying M (located on Indian Creek Plaza in Caldwell).

How Big Is The Problem Nationally?

·       81% of children ages 3 – 17 access the internet and 75% of them have their own smart devices.

·       The average age of first exposure to internet porn is 8 yrs. old.

·       There are 750,000 sexual predators online at any given moment of every day.

·       By 10^th grade 75% of girls have sent a nude photo, 30% to someone they don’t even know. (national & local statistic)

Idaho is not immune to this problem. 

·       Child sexual abuse cases rose by 22% between 2018-2019.

·       696 child sexual abuse cases were filed in 2019, by Fiscal yr. 2021 that number rose to 1033 cases. 

·       Canyon County & the 3^rd Judicial District have the second highest number of cases filed involving adult offenders for the most recent fiscal year.

How they're contacting our kids

Close to half of all teens 11-14 likely send and receive sexting messages. 2022 FBI Alert – reported at least 3000 boys between the ages of 14-17 had been Sextortion victims leading to more than a dozen suicides, suspects mostly from West African countries.

In 2020 there was a 98% increase in online attempts to recruit children by sex traffickers. Through 2020 there have been 29 identified cases of Human Trafficking in Idaho.

What you will learn in Caldwell on Thursday Night. 

The guest speaker is Mr. Victor Dominguez from the Executive Board of the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Coalition. The information offered will cover the current statistics of internet crimes against Idaho’s children, the devices and apps used by children and predators, and how we as a community can better protect our children.

The statistics were provided by the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Coalition.