Sheriff's Department addresses sexting dangers

In 2008, 3.5 billion sexts were sent daily in the U.S.

By Samantha Sunne

Published April 30, 2010

Boone County Sheriff's Department Detective Andy Anderson called sexting a community problem Tuesday at a forum at the Daniel Boone Regional Library.

"I think we need law enforcement, schools, parents, courts, places like the Rainbow House, all of us working together to try to decide (if this is) a problem that we need to address, and if it is, what are we going to do about it?" Anderson said.

Sexting, the act of sending sexually explicit messages or photos electronically, constitutes child pornography if someone younger than 18 commits it, Anderson said. The possession or promotion of child pornography are felonies in Missouri.

"(A lot of kids) really don't understand that's not only inappropriate, but that's illegal," he said.

Janie Bakutes, director of the Regional Child Advocacy Center, said the Rainbow House sponsored the forum in order to spread awareness and education about sexting in the Columbia community.

"Education equals awareness equals prevention," Bakutes said.

Cases of child pornography from sexting are on the rise, though most cases are settled out of court, Family Court Services Juvenile Officer Rick Gaines said.

"But some cases, unfortunately, make it to that level," Gaines said. "(Anderson) has sent us some cases that we felt like we had to go through the court process because of the seriousness and the mere sophistication of the information that was presented to us."

In the U.S. 3.5 billion sexts were sent daily in 2008, most of them by cell phone, Anderson said. Text messaging has become the most common form of communication among teens, with 1.5 trillion texts sent in the U.S. last year.

"That is a staggering number, so that really creates a problem in and of itself," Anderson said.

Anderson said teenagers send the messages as private pictures between them and their partners, but all too often, the partner shares it with friends. He also said a sext could potentially end up on any computer in the country.

"What the kids don't realize is that once those images are sent out, they are virtually gone forever," he said.

Columbia residents Jan and Ed Varnum said they attended the forum because they were worried about their teenage daughter sexting.

"We're worried about everything, about the abuse and misuse of cyberspace," Ed Varnum said. "Personally, I haven't seen (sexting), but I'm not in that group."

Anderson advised teenagers to never share a sext and to delete it immediately if they ever receive one. He said he hopes schools will be able educate students on these issues.

"I don't know that the schools, or at least the ones that I've talked to, really know yet what to do," Anderson said. "This is kind of a new phenomenon for all of us. And I don't think any of us really know what the answer is, so we're all trying to figure it out."