Cyberbullying is an increasing issue among high school and college students because of the increased use of social media sites, according to the Oxford Police Department and University Police Department.
According to the stopbullying.gov website, cyberbullying is bullying that takes place using electronic technology. Electronic technology includes devices and equipment such as cell phones, computers and tablets as well as communication tools including social media sites, text messages, chat and websites.
On campus, the most common cases are through text message or social media according to UPD Detective Lieutenant Jeremy M. Cook.
“They’re usually trying to intimidate somebody or threaten somebody into doing what they want them to do or sometimes it’s a boyfriend or girlfriend or something sexual in nature,” Cook said.
In order to prevent cyberbullying, UPD tries to educate students at the university through the freshmen EDHE classes. They also investigate every single case until they come to an end, according to Cook.
“We try to make an arrest of it if we can,” Cook said. “We try to assist the victim. If we have a suspect, we’ll call and tell them to stop.”
According to Cook, the continuation of harassing another person online or through text is called cyber-stalking and it is considered a felony in the state of Mississippi.
It’s a bigger problem now, said Cook, because of social media sites like Yik Yak where anyone can post an anonymous statement without disclosing their name. According to Cook, there has been a few reports of people having their names mentioned on Yik Yak. Cook said he believes this is a problem that may even be worse among high school.
According to Pew Research Center, 88 percent of social media-using teens have seen someone be mean or cruel on a social media site and 20.8 percent of children, ages eight to ten have been cyberbullied at least once in their life.
In March of this year, Yik Yak caused a disturbance on the Oxford High School campus. In response to the reports of many students using the app, Brian Harvey, the Superintendent of Oxford School District wrote a press release.
“The app’s promise of being anonymous has opened up a Pandora’s box of trouble for our high school: malicious comments, hurtful statements and untruths posted anonymously by our students and others in the community,” Harvey wrote. “These posts are vicious and hurtful, and there is no way to trace their source.”
According to Harvey, the school district asked the developers of Yik Yak to build a virtual barrier around the schools, so the app could not be accessed by students while they are in class. Harvey also wrote about the importance of parents teaching their children to be responsible digital citizens.
“We need to take this time as adults to encourage our children to strongly think about character, respect for others, and responsibility for actions — all ideas that center around the Golden Rule, ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,’” Harvey wrote.
OPD Detective Chase Camp said that they deal with a case or so a month.
“It tends to be kind of across the board. We’ll sometimes help out with some juvenile cases where a couple high school girls are making fun of another high school girl. It seems to be from ages six to seven up to forties. A lot of people are posting cyber bullying type remarks or pictures,” Camp said.
Lately, Yik Yak has not been a large problem but it was in the past when the social media site first emerged, Cook said.
“It’s increasing as a problem since more people are getting used to getting online,” Cook said. “It’s a daily part of life so they feel more freedom to harass or post things on there.”
Another reason why UPD and OPD aren’t seeing more cases of cyberbullying is because most of the cases aren’t reported, Cook said.
“It’s hard for us to know a private message between people if they don’t come forward,” Cook said.
According to Cook, when dealing with a suspect in a cyberbullying case, it is all about what the victim wants OPD to do. It varies from just having an officer talk to a suspect to going through the act of pressing criminal charges. All of these cases are handled the in the same way for minors until it’s time to press charges.
