PARENTS can protect their children from the dangers of the internet by teaching them to use it safely.

This is the message from Dorset Police following another BBC investigation highlighting the dangers of internet grooming.

In Tuesday's Echo, we told how Panorama researchers had posted a bogus identity of a 14-year-old girl on three networking sites and were shocked to find the number of predators who bombarded her with sexually explicit messages and asked personal questions.

Sgt Andrew Stevenson, of Dorset Police's public protection bureau, said: "Parents can help to protect their children by teaching them to use the internet safely.

"I would always recommend that children do not have unsupervised use of a computer, and that any internet access that children to have should take place in a family room.

"This encourages children to make their online behaviour a family activity, and encourages them to be less active.

"Children are less likely to engage in risky behaviour if parents or carers are able to view their screens as they surf the web."

Dorset Police say there are a number of important rules which parents and carers should always consider to ensure their children use the internet safely:

  • Know what your children are doing online and who they are talking to.
  • Teach them to ignore spam, junk e-mails and texts - they should not open files from people they do not know.
  • Make it very clear that they must not give out personal information without your permission - in particular, addresses, phone numbers, school details, passwords or pictures. Also take care to limit children's access to credit card and bank information.
  • Warn them to be careful about giving away their email address in chat rooms or when registering for sites.
  • Forbid them to meet anyone in person that they encounter online without your consent and without a responsible adult present.
  • Encourage them to come to you if anything online makes them feel uncomfortable or threatened.
  • Teach them how to report online child abuse which can be done on the CEOP website.

Advice and information about children and the internet is available on the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre website ceop.gov.uk.