City Will Hold Forum on Sexting and Cybersafety Tuesday

For adults, exchanging sexy pictures online or in text messages can feel like innocent fun. But there's nothing innocent about 'sexting' when the subjects of those images are children or teens, said Elk Grove Vice-Mayor Jim Cooper.

"There are a lot of folks on the internet that are sexual predators," said Cooper, a former commander of the Sacramento Valley Hi-Tech Crimes Task Force. "Someone says [to a kid], 'Send me a picture of yourself, or your boyfriend or girlfriend' and the next thing they know it's all over the internet."

The city of Elk Grove will hold a forum Tuesday evening to educate teens on the dangers of online child pornography. The second in a series on cybersafety, the forum will feature a detective from the Task Force outlining previous cases in the Elk Grove area and how kids can protect themselves while texting and using social media.

The forum will take place at 6 p.m. in the city council chambers at 8400 Laguna Palms Way.

"We're not out to scare anybody," said Cooper. "We just want to make them aware of the implications of their actions and how to be safe on the internet."