ThinkUKnow success: Creating awareness of the online risks to children

The ThinkUKnow initiative aims to educate children, parents, carers and teachers about the risks faced online and how to create a safer online experience for young people.

It is important that children know the possible online risks and how to manage those risks. ThinkUKnow encourages open lines of communication between parent and child so that the Internet is as much a topic of discussion as what happened at school that day or in sport.

Introduced to Australia in 2010, the ThinkUKnow program has proven to be a valuable resource, used by children, parents, carers and educational institutions. To date, over 210 ThinkUKnow presentations have been delivered by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) Crime Prevention Team to over 7,300 people across Australia.

The ThinkUKnow Australia website, which now has over 2,800 website members, has also proven to be a valuable tool, providing comprehensive information and resources on cyber safety for children, parents, carers and teachers.

As at the end of July 2011, almost 100,000 page visits and over 340,000 page views were made to the ThinkUKnow Australia website.

ThinkUKnow is a United Kingdom initiative developed by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre in 2006 and introduced through the Virtual Global Taskforce collaboration to Australia in 2010. The AFP continues to develop strategies to highlight the importance of this initiative and encourage other VGT members to get on board.

For more information and resources on how to stay safe online, visit the ThinkUKnow Australia or United Kingdom websites.

Twitter: @ThinkUKnow_Aus
Facebook.com/ThinkUKnowAustralia