Protect children from online predators

Since children spend a lot of time online every day, parents need to understand how to identify where predators are lurking and how to protect their children.

On Thursday at 7 p.m., New Jersey 101.5 will present a special town hall program titled “Targeted: Protecting New Jersey Children from Online Predators,” which will address the online child predator crisis and the impact on children and parents.

In an alarming statistic, the FBI estimates that 500,000 criminals are online every day, with children between the ages of 12 and 15 at greatest risk. These predators lurk on social media sites, online gaming platforms, chat rooms and anywhere else where children are popular.

We will provide listeners with the most up-to-date information about the ever-changing ways in which predatory behavior manifests itself on the internet and connected devices.

The program’s on-air guests include John Pizzuro, CEO of Raven and former commander of the New Jersey State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force; Alicia Kozak, cyber security expert and founder of The Alicia Project; Stephanie Lyon, licensed clinical psychologist and assistant professor of clinical psychology at Rutgers University; and Gina Cavallo, Counsel and Vice President of the Board of Trustees of the New Jersey Coalition Against Human Trafficking.

The program will be streamed live online and can be embedded at facebook.com/nj1015/live. The show can also be accessed via nj1015.com, the New Jersey 101.5 YouTube channel or the free New Jersey 101.5 app.