Kids using 'Net to bully others
Honolulu police and school officials say the problem is growing
Restraining orders and ambushes in school parking lots. Lies, fights and threats.
All are bitter consequences of a new type of online harassment among students: cyberbullying.
Honolulu police officials said the term may be new to parents, but the activity has been going on for at least two years now at almost every public and private school.
"It's just being reported more often now," said Internet Crimes Detective Chris Duque. "Teachers and schools are starting to recognize it.
"There wasn't even a name for it before when it first started," Duque said.
Duque and Special Agent Bruce Law, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, were talking to intermediate and high school students at Sacred Hearts Academy in Kaimuki yesterday about cyberbullying during a presentation on Internet safety.
School officials there said so far they have encountered everything from the mundane to the extreme when it comes to dealing with online feuds.
The latest incident took place just last month.
"We had one case where one of our girls was having trouble with another girl outside the school over a boy," said Chantel Seitz, dean of students at Sacred Hearts Academy. "The girl threatened her on her MySpace account that she 'better watch out because on Friday you're going to get your a** kicked.'"
Seitz said her student ended up being ambushed by the other girl, who allegedly waited outside in a parked vehicle in the school parking lot for the victim to show up.
"She just jumped out of a car ... (and) started punching her," Seitz said. "She had some cuts and bruises. ... Police were called.
"It was a mess."
Another incident last year involved a Sacred Hearts sophomore who had a "falling out" with a freshman girl. The older student gained access to the other girl's MySpace account and posted pictures and changed her information without the freshman's knowledge.
"She wrote 'I am a whore' and 'I sleep with so and so,'" Seitz said. "Very degrading comments. Parents got involved and TRO's (temporary restraining orders) were filed.
"Mostly, it's trash talking ... but it's becoming a bigger problem."
Duque said other examples involve a high school student being beaten at Aloha Stadium last year during a football game, because someone posted a Web site in the victim's name that claimed the boy was "talking stink" about another school.
"Kids are quick to react. They see something posted on a Web site and sometimes they don't even think or wonder if it's true," he said. "And in this case there was no direct threat made, but the information posted led to a third party assaulting someone.
"It doesn't even meet our requirements for a crime ... but it is still a problem," Duque said.
As a result, Sacred Hearts school officials said they have taken steps to keep their students off social networking Web sites such as MySpace and Zanga while on campus. Students caught trying to access such sites are banned from school computers for a month for their first offense, and then for a year if they are caught a second time.
However, most of the trouble begins at home, they say, and they warn parents to become aware of their child's online activities.
"So many of them were unaware of what their kids were doing on MySpace," said Nani Chernisky, Sacred Heart's ninth- and 10th-grade student counselor. "Parents were just in shock."
Students at the assembly said they were aware of the dangers, but said that not everyone misuses the Internet.
"They spread lies about each other and everyone started believing them," eighth-grader Jessica Porter said. "Huge dramas. But if your parents trust you, they shouldn't have to take your computer away."
Still, Duque urges students to be aware of their online environment and to consider how their actions can affect others. And he warns that even if students conceal the identity of someone they are slandering online, it still could be sending the wrong message to the wrong people.
"If I'm a sexual predator and you post something about a girl that sleeps around and likes older men and who goes to Sacred Hearts, then I'm in the parking lot looking for anybody who matches that description," he said. "It hasn't happened yet, but the potential is there."