Amarillo Police Working On Putting An End To Child Predators

It's something we've seen a huge increase of in Amarillo over the course of the last year or two, and now we understand that wasn't by accident. It's something we worry about for our kids, and an issue we want to see be completely eradicated.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be something that is going away any time soon, and that's why Amarillo police are doing everything that can to put an end to it.

I'm talking about online child predators. It's become a HUGE problem across the country with the introduction of all the different social media sites and other avenues kids use to communicate.

Many times, these predators will hang out on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat etc. stalking pages and sending messages to the kids that have profiles. They understand exactly how to talk to them and convince them to do something they shouldn't.

There are also chat room types of apps such as Discord where kids are prevalent as they use it for gaming and other things. These are some of the favorite places for predators to be.

Just in 2024, Amarillo police have made over 100 arrests wrapped around online child predators, and they recognize the need to do even more.

Lt. Chaz Williams, commander of the SVU division for the Amarillo Police Department gave a little insight on what they're doing to stay on top of the issue.

"We're making sure we're staying on top of the technology, staying on top of the lingo and all of the games, all of the different systems, and all of the different apps kids are using, we're using them too,"

While they're doing everything they can do, they're asking parents to also do their part and help monitor what their kids are doing online. Parents are urged to have conversations with their kids about what they're doing online, as well as monitor things such as Snapchat, Instagram, and their gaming consoles.

There are also apps that will allow you to mirror your child's devices. By doing this, you can see literally every text that is sent so you can monitor any possible inappropriate conversations they may be having.

Amarillo Police have said it doesn't matter if you live in the state, or out of state. They say if you're preying on the children of Amarillo, they're going to find you, come and get you, and make you spend some unwanted time in the city.