South Africa’s well-developed infrastructure makes it an attractive target for cyber criminals who use the internet for extortion, fraud, child pornography as well as human trafficking.
Wednesday, January 19 saw members from the Honeydew Police, Honeydew CPF Sector 1 and Warrant Officer Boshoff from the Gauteng Serial and Electronics Crime Investigation Unit visit Randpark Primary School Grade 6 and 7 learners to educate them on the topic.
All present on the day engaged in a discussion about cybercrimes, cyberbullying, sexual/ pornographic content and general safety online when using social media.
The learners were educated on the dangers, emotional effects and legal consequences of these topics, and were given information on how to protect themselves if they find themselves in any of these situations.
Learners showed interest by asking questions while the engagement displayed was fantastic, making the visit a great success. According to the Honeydew Police the talks will be held at other schools too.
On Friday, January 21 Honeydew Police and members from Honeydew CPF Sector 2 took the time to visit Panorama Primary School.
The learners were divided into two groups, the first group being Grade 1 to 4 learners. A few points were covered which included how to remember the police number 10111, what is considered theft, as well as not talking to or taking things from strangers or people you don’t know.
Some of the above points were also covered with Group 2 consisting of Grade 5 to 7 learners. In addition, drugs, smoking cigarettes and general safety around cell phones and public spaces were discussed.
With the government having laid down the law on cybercrime these school visits bring South Africa up to international standards for fighting cybercrime.
With a global spike in internet-based offences, partly driven by more people working from home due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the school visits couldn’t have come soon enough.
