Benton County Sheriff’s Office and the Bentonville School District have teamed up to raise awareness about the dangers of being online.

“Parent Night Out: How to Protect Your Children from the Dangers Online” will be a two-hour presentation designed to inform parents, guardians and educators on ways to protect children from the dangers of the online world. The event will be held Nov. 4 at Bentonville West High School from 6–8 p.m.

Due to the nature of the topic, children are not permitted to attend. The event is free, but attendees must register online.

“Children are really smart when it comes to the World Wide Web,” said Shannon Jenkins, public information officer for the Benton County Sheriff’s Office. “We like to ask the question: Would you allow your child to run loose in a big city like New York or Los Angeles without any supervision? The cyber world is the same concept. It is so vast with so many harmful situations. We want to educate parents and help them better protect their children.”

Cyber detectives will cover current apps popular with youth and the techniques kids use to evade parental monitoring, such as apps that are hidden from parental monitoring. 

The role of a cyber detective is to work on crimes against children online, which could be through apps on phones or online games such as Roblox.

There will also be a live presentation where “detectives will share up-close information that show parents how quickly a conversation online can turn into the grooming of their child by predators,” Jenkins said. 

“The key word is quickly, it doesn’t take long. Children are impressionable,” she added.

The Bentonville School District also held an event in September on the impacts of excessive screen time in children. Dr. Joe Thompson, president and CEO of the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement, focused on the amount of time kids spend on their phones and tablets, along with the impacts of social media.