For Immediate Release

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Contact: John Guilfoil
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: john@jgpr.net

Groveland Police Department Hosts Internet Safety Event at Pentucket Regional Middle School

GROVELAND – Deputy Chief Jeffrey Gillen announces that the Groveland Police Department hosted several internet safety presentations at Pentucket Regional Middle School last week with speaker Katie Greer from KL Greer Consulting.

The event was held on Wednesday, Feb. 24. Greer presented material at 8:30 a.m. for students and again later that night for parents. She provides nearly a decade of internet/technology safety education for all ages to schools, law enforcement agencies and community organizations throughout the United States and Canada.

Detective Steven Petrone from the Groveland Police Department organized the event, which was funded by the Pentucket PTA, along with the Groveland, West Newbury and Merrimac police associations.

Greer’s program for the middle school students focuses on digging into issues like responsible posting and how certain content can have negative effects on students in the future. Other topics of discussion included:

• What is personal information?
• Social networking and privacy settings
• Texting/smartphone usage
• Interactive gaming rules and thoughts
• Cyberbullying
• Sexting/Child pornography

“Learning about internet safety is imperative, especially for seventh and eighth grade students, who are becoming more familiar with social media platforms and navigating the online world,” Deputy Gillen said. “Greer’s customized and proactive approach helps students and their parents remain safe and aware while on the internet.”

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