MOUNT VERNON — Parents, it’s the 21st century. Do you know what your child can do with his or her cell phone?
Advancing technology has made it possible for cell phone users to not only talk to someone else, but to take and exchange photographs, access the Internet, download videos and music selections, and send text messages to friends. The multiple capabilities also make it easier for cell phones to be used for illegal purposes, and the cases of inappropriate and illegal cell phone usage in the county school districts are increasing.
School district officials and law enforcement personnel are worried that parents may not realize exactly how their children are using their cell phones, or that the illegal use of cell phones will land their children in court.
Knox County Prosecutor John Thatcher said the biggest concern among officials is the use of cell phones by minors to take pictures of themselves or of other minors, then transmit those photographs to anybody and everybody. Once the pictures are out on the Internet, they don’t go away, he said. Besides the immediate emotional and social consequences, such a childhood lark may cause issues later on in that person’s life. Certain images could also be evidence of more serious crimes, Thatcher said, especially if they show any sexual activity.
If school administrators have reasonable cause or reasonable suspicion that cell phones are being misused, the phones will be confiscated, and deleting items won’t help.
“You may think you’ve deleted a photograph [or a text message] but that’s recoverable,” said Thatcher. “Once that cell phone is seized, we’re going to search it. We can get a search warrant to do that. If we find any criminal activity on it, we’re going to file the appropriate charges and take that child to juvenile court.”
Because all of the phone activity is recoverable and traceable, Thatcher said, people may not be aware that when they use the cell phones illegally, “they’re basically making evidence for us to prosecute them for crimes.”
Exactly what charges are filed depends on the circumstances of the alleged offense, such as the age of the individuals and the actual content of the material being sent. The exchange of photographs by cell phones among juveniles could be charged as disseminating matter harmful to juveniles, explained assistant prosecutor Chip McConville.
“The harmful to juveniles charges vary a little bit depending on the content of photograph. If it’s simply a nude photograph, that could be something harmful to juveniles and that would be a first-degree misdemeanor,” he said. “If you’ve got something which is obscene, then it becomes a felony of the fifth degree, or if you have a minor under the age of 13 viewing the photograph, it becomes a felony of the fourth degree.”
“If there were adults involved in transmitting, if there are adults involved in the pictures, some adults are going to get charged with a felony,” Thatcher added.
Another area of concern for school officials and law enforcement is the illegal use of cell phones to make bogus 9-1-1 calls. East Knox School Superintendent John Marschhausen said that parents, when getting a new cell phone, often give their children their old cell phones to play with.
“What they don’t realize,” he said, “is that while the children can’t make a lot of calls, there’s one call they can make. Sometimes it’s accidental, and sometimes the child has figured out they’re calling the only person who talks to them — 9-1-1.”
Even if the old phones are deactivated, they can still be used to call 9-1-1 if the batteries are charged, said Capt. Richard Brennaman.of the Knox County Sheriff’s Office. He said there were at least three bogus calls in May; that’s three too many, in his opinion.
“It ties up the 9-1-1 lines,” he said. “It ties up the county dispatchers and the city dispatchers. It wastes taxpayers’ money and wastes the time it takes officers to investigate.”
Those illegal 9-1-1 calls, he said, even if made on school buses or in the school environment, will also be handled through the appropriate law enforcement agency.
Although parents might not technically be held accountable for their child’s illegal use of a phone that they, the parents, provided, there are consequences.
“Children don’t go to juvenile court by themselves,” Thatcher said. “The parents go with them. The disposition the court hands down is going to involve the parents, too. Kids don’t get themselves to The Alternative Center. They don’t get themselves to the afterschool program, or the counseling or whatever the judge says is appropriate. Parents need to know that it is their responsibility to make sure their kids are not using their cell phones illegally.”
