My name is Senior Constable Samantha Giles and I am an investigator at the Dalby Child Protection & Investigation Unit. I have a background in Information Technology and am passionate about child protection. Over the coming newsletters, I will be posting something different about online offences, general online social behaviour and current trends/issues that we are seeing regarding today’s youth to help educate students and parents about the good, bad and ugly of the online and physical world.

What is Cyber Bullying?

It is intentional and repeated cruel or hurtful behaviour that is carried out using technology such as SMS/text, email, blogs, chat rooms, social network and photo/video sharing apps such as Instagram with the intention to cause deliberate psychological harm.  It can include sending cruel and threatening messages, creating fake profiles that are mean and hurtful or sending unwanted messages online. Cyber bullying is against the law. Making threats or continually using a device to harass or menace a person is a Commonwealth Criminal offence and they have considerable fines and imprisonment terms as possible consequences.

What should I do if either I, or someone I know, is a victim of online bullying?

• Tell someone you trust. This could be a parent, teacher, older sibling, police or an organisation such as Kids Help Line or Headspace
• Take a screenshot to keep as evidence
• Don’t engage with the bully and leave the chat room or site immediately
• Report the bully to the website owner ie Facebook

If you have any questions or would like to contact me, please drop me an email: Giles.SamA@police.qld.gov.au 

* Resources: www.esafety.gov.au, www.kidshelpline.com.au.