FORT MITCHELL — With summer break looming for many students, legions will be spending more time surfing the Internet or conversing in chat rooms.

        That's why the FBI and local law enforcement officials spent part of Tuesday teaching 150 fifth- and sixth-graders at Beechwood Elementary School how to protect themselves from dangers on the World Wide Web.

INTERNET SAFETY

Do not:     • Give out personal information (identity, age, address).     • Get together with someone you meet online.     • Respond to inappropriate or threatening communications or to messages from unknown people.     • Buy anything online without talking to your parents. Your child might be at risk if he or she ...     • Spends a lot of time online unsupervised.     • Is secretive about online activity.     • Receives unexplained phone calls or messages from unknown people.     • Receives unexplained packages and gifts at home.     Sources: FBI; Independence Police Department

        The number of incidents involving online enticement of children for sexual acts more than doubled — from 707 to 1,540 — between 1998 and 2001, said S. Oname Thompson, a spokeswoman for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

        U.S. Rep. Ken Lucas is spending part of his Memorial Day recess hosting Internet safety programs at schools in his 4th Congressional District. Mr. Lucas first took the program into Kenton Elementary two years ago, and decided to expand the program this year.

        “Just as children should not talk to strangers on the street, they should avoid strangers on the Internet,” Mr. Lucas, a Democrat from Richwood, told students and teachers in the school's gymnasium.

        “The Internet can be a wonderful educational tool for kids, but there are also deviant people out there who use the Internet to prey upon children,” he said.

        FBI Supervisory Special Agent Patrick Maley and Independence Police Sgt. Anthony Lucas discussed the dangers of the Internet.

        “And I don't mean to scare you,” Mr. Maley said. “But I want to scare you a little bit.”

        Sixth-grader Sami Bowling said the program was helpful.

        “I learned not to talk to strangers on the Internet,” she said. “It kind of scared me because I use the Internet a lot.”

        Rachel Craig, 12, said she learned “that there are a lot of people who will hurt kids and do bad things. It's kind of sad ...”

        An estimated 8.6 million children ages 5 to 12 and 8.4 million teen-agers use the Internet for education and social outlets, according to Sgt. Lucas. The ability to be anonymous online, he said, is a perfect setting for child molesters and scam artists.

        Add to the mix that most juveniles have unsupervised Internet access at home, a friend's house or at the library, Sgt. Lucas said.

        Mr. Lucas is co-sponsor of the Cybermolesters Enforcement Act in Congress that aims to establish a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison for preying on children via the Internet.
       
       

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