Hopefully by now you are already aware that October is National Bullying Prevention Month. With the goal remaining bullying prevention, let’s look back at a few news stories that gained national attention over the last twelve months since our last Blog during the month of awareness. News Story One: January 25, 2021, A Houston father of five is dead after a confrontation that allegedly stemmed from his 15-year-old daughter being cyberbullied by another teen.[1] Brandon Curtis, 35, was shot more than once on Friday evening. The shooter claimed he shot Curtis in self-defense, as reported by  ABC-13. The Harris County Sheriff, Ed Gonzalez, tweeted that Curtis took his daughter to fight a group of teenagers. During the fight, Gonzalez alleges, several other people got involved, including Curtis. Harris tells the station that her daughter had been bullied on social media by a teenage boy for nine months. She shared some profanity-laced messages with the station. Harris claimed she and her husband spoke with the boy’s father a few months ago, but that the bullying had never subsided. She said her husband, daughter and son went back to address the issue for a second time when the fight broke out. News […]

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the lead agency in the United States for combating international and domestic terrorism. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 forever changed the FBI. The agency transformed itself into an intelligence-driven, threat-based, national security and law enforcement agency, with counterterrorism, both domestic and international, as our highest priority. To achieve this transformation, the Bureau focused on three main areas: We improved the way we analyze and share intelligence to drive our investigations and to stay ahead of changing threats. We greatly enhanced the FBI’s technology, giving us tools to help understand the intelligence data we collect and how to make the best use of it. In 2002, we created a Cyber Division at FBI Headquarters to address emerging cyber threats. We enhanced our partnerships with our counterparts in law enforcement, the intelligence community, and the public and private sectors. In the last few years, threats from domestic terrorist extremists have emerged as a larger threat than international terrorism. As a matter of fact, in recent years, domestic violent extremists have caused more deaths in the United States than international terrorists. Between 2015 and 2019 the most lethal threat posed by domestic violent extremists […]

#Default2Safety may seem like a normal hashtag to many, but it’s what lead to a revelation of a large tech company to take a deeper look into how technology can be reformed to keep students safe. With technology being a main staple not only in our homes, but now in our student’s education, there have been many questions and concerns. One of our partners, NCOSE, took the challenge head on to fight for change and safety for all students. Google devices, Chromebooks are used by majority of school districts in America (40+ million students), including the Greater Houston Area. As of September 1st, they will be implementing several of the suggestions made by NCOSE for making Chromebooks and google education safer for students. The original article can be read here. Below is a breakdown of the new implemented safety settings. The safety settings will automatically be defaulted on all products for K-12 students (under the age of 18) that can only be changed by those who hold administrative privileges. Administrators will also be given the ability to tailor settings for services such as maps, photos, and YouTube based on the age group at that campus. SafeSearch: ON SafeSearch when on, is […]

Fentanyl is pouring into the United States and Social media platforms such as Snapchat make it easy for dealers to connect with and sell to teens with little risk of being caught. Our Safe Community Program has created “Drugs in a Snap: A 5 Step Fentanyl Poisoning Prevention Plan” an essential resource for parents and caregivers that addresses this safety crisis and provides action steps to help prevent tragedy. Download it for FREE here: Download our Fentanyl Poisoning Prevention Plan Here! Download our Fentanyl Poisoning Prevention resource guide for students here! What is fentanyl? Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid similar to morphine that is 50 to 100 times more potent. It is highly addictive and just 2mg, the equivalent of 2 grains of salt, can kill you within minutes. Why does it matter? Fentanyl is being laced in drugs that teens are purchasing on social media platforms such as Snapchat for just a few pennies. These fentanyl-laced drugs can be purchased online and delivered straight to your home. What can you do to keep your loved ones safe?  Download and share our FREE resource guide that provides a 5 step action plan and will enable you to help mitigate the fentanyl overdose crisis here. […]

The concept of reducing or eliminating a person’s responsibility with the possibility to gain personally or financially from a fire loss is how arson and fraud have become so closely associated. Society has a general acceptance that fire is a natural phenomenon and is not anyone’s fault. Detecting arson and fraud associated with fire can be difficult because the destruction of physical evidence can be extensive. Fraud is defined as the wrongful deception for personal gain. Fraud occurs when a person knows they are being dishonest, what they are doing is wrong, and they do it for personal or financial gain anyway. Arson has a common definition as the willful or malicious burning of something, to include fraudulent and or criminal intent. The crimes of arson and fraud have been linked together for centuries. Thousands of years ago Hammurabi Law codified that debtors had less responsibility to repay creditors if a loss occurred to the debtor as the result of an Act of God. Although we have modernized language to use the term natural in place of the phrase an Act of God, fire has long been interpreted as an Act of God, caused by something natural, without direct involvement […]

Did you know that The American Camp Association, the only national accreditation body for camps, requires camps to meet just 18 percent of its 255 standards and practices? Thanks to Meow Meow Foundation, you will know what questions to ask summer camps before sending your kids. The tragic loss of 6-year-old Roxie at a summer camp, that was afterwards deemed inadequate, lead her parents to create the Meow Meow foundation to bring awareness to summer camp and water safety. Our CEO, Rania Mankarious sat down on the Balanced Voice Podcast with Doug Forbes and Elena Matyas to discuss their story, their foundation and how Roxie’s death can lead to saving other kids. Watch their discussion and learn more about Doug Forbes and Elena Matyas here: Summer break is finally here and kids are ready to explore, relax and have fun. Often times, summer camps are on the to-do list in majority of households. Whether those camps are day camps, overnight camps, dance camps, horse riding camps or sports camps; all camps should be held to a high safety standard. As a parent, where do you start? Research is important before choosing the camp you want to send your child to. […]

Elder Fraud takes many shapes and sizes as criminal elements seek to take advantage of this vulnerable and growing population. The FBI has prioritized its efforts to address elder fraud and will continue to do so along with our partners. Since senior citizens are a particularly vulnerable victim group, they are often specific targets of financial fraud crimes because of their life situation and financial position. Seniors are often more polite and trusting, have difficulty saying “no,” may be lonely or spend a great deal of time alone, have diminished physical or mental capacity, less likely to report the crime out of shame, and are financially stable. Criminals often focus their efforts on the senior demographic to exploit these characteristics, at times using intimidation tactics or threatening violence, and wreaking havoc on their elderly victims’ financial, psychological, and physical well-being. The fraudsters buy and trade lead lists on the Internet with seniors’ names, phone numbers and other personal information to contact potential victims. Victims of these schemes often lose thousands of dollars or more apiece, which can cause significant harm to elderly victims’ survival. An important step in avoiding being victimized is educating the population to be more aware of […]

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, and it’s an important time to talk about the online exploitation of children. Today, children are spending more time on the internet. During the COVID-19 pandemic there has been a dramatic increase in reports of online exploitation. In the year 2020 alone, reports of online enticement to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) to the CyberTipline grew by 97.5% compared to 2019. Online video games have been very popular for years and are especially popular now. Because of social distancing precautions, more and more children (especially boys) are playing online video games for entertainment and as a way to socialize with friends. . Online sexual exploitation using gaming platforms is often not at the top of their list of concerns. If you’re a “noob” or someone new to online gaming, it is important to know that these video games are not like what you might have played as a young person- they have become more than just games, but also a tool to connect with friends and meet new people. Using built-in chat features on consoles like Xbox and PlayStation, young children can connect through the game itself and on […]

My name is Kerry McCracken. I am the Executive Director of The Children’s Assessment Center, Harris County’s Advocacy Center for sexually abused children. I am so grateful that April has been designated as National Child Abuse Prevention Month to bring even more emphasis to this sad but important issue. Every child deserves to feel safe and protected, period. 175 children are abused in Texas every day. 700,000 children are abused in the United States every year. These numbers are shocking and unacceptable. Child abuse comes in many forms. Physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, emotional abuse, and malnutrition are all abuse. No form of abuse is acceptable and all forms of abuse are preventable. That’s where you come in. It is every adult in our community’s job to protect children and prevent abuse. So how do we do that? Report any suspicion of child abuse. It’s the right thing to do. Many people are afraid of reporting suspicions of abuse but when weighing the pros and cons it is an easy choice: (1) Report child abuse so that a trained professional can investigate the allegation and either determine that no abuse occurred or determine that abuse has occurred and remove the […]