Sexting in the Northeast Kingdom

Details: Created on Saturday, 22 November 2014 19:11; Written by Tyler Dumont

NORTHEAST KINGDOM - The issue of "sexting" is relatively new to law enforcement, but officials in the Northeast Kingdom say they've been dealing with it consistently over the past few years.

"Sexting is any kind of electronic dissemination where you're showing indecent or inappropriate parts of your body," explains Det. Daniele Kostruba of the St. Johnsbury Police Dept.

With the development of mobile phone apps like "Snapchat," sexting requires only a cameraphone with internet access. It can take just seconds - and that's what makes it so dangerous.

"When I first started I didn't see so much of it, and it seems like over the years it has picked up quite a bit," Kostruba said. "A lot of them don't even know each other, that's what's really sad - they meet each other on Facebook."

Kostruba also explains that a lot of sexting incidents do not get reported because a parent has to come across it or a child has to receive it unwantingly.

Pictures sent via more permanent methods - like MMS messaging - can sometimes be more harmful to an individual's image, as the picture can spread like wildfire.

Very often, in that process, the pictures will end up in the possession of people who don't want them. But whether they want them or not, if someone possesses inappropriate pictures of an underage person, it may be considered child pornography - and police take that very seriously.

A study released by the American Academy of Pediatrics says that sexting is a "new normal" for teens. But even still, offenders could face jail time if caught and the pictures result in a criminal charge.

More often than not, however, young people who "sext" will end up working with Sarah Smith at Northeast Kingdom Youth Services.

"The more technology sort of increases, the more we're seeing it," Smith said of the subject. "Usually what I tell young adults or teenagers when this is going on is that the rule should be that if you wouldn't show it to your grandmother or say it to your grandmother, don't put it on the internet."

Mobile phone experts stress that there are three key points of the app Snapchat that users should pay attention to before sending what they may think is simply a casual, 10-second "snap" message.

"There's their device, there is the network or the thing that transmits the messages and there's the Snapchat service," said Michael Morgan, an expert in mobile phone systems based in Burlington, VT. There's a lot of things that happen between your personal device and their personal device that you don't own - that you don't have control over."

Morgan says there is also always the risk of someone taking a snapshot of the picture message, or someone else taking a picture of your picture.

In the end, it is up to the user to take the proper precautions - because the consequences could be a lot longer than just 10 seconds.