Arkansas State Police highlight internet safety tips for parents after recent AMBER Alerts

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – With two AMBER alerts being issued this week for missing teens, Arkansas State Police are now pointing to the warning signs for parents to pick up on to avoid being in similar situations.

Major Stacie Rhoads with the Criminal Investigation Division of Arkansas State Police said that five AMBER alerts have been issued since May 1 of this year, compared to only two issued for 2023.

Rhoads said the main apps where the kids are being enticed to run away are TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, and a gaming communication app called Discord. Her messages to parents are simple: ask questions and be nosey, as a lot of this goes down not on the surface level of these apps but in the direct messages.

“What we typically see is a lot of these young kids are looking for some sort of acceptance or love,” Rhoads said. “Sometimes they’re being enticed with monetary stuff.”

Rhoads said she knows for a lot of parents, when their kids are in trouble, their first instinct is to take their phone away, but this can actually not help in dangerous situations where their phone is the only way to track them.

She instead suggests that parents put restrictions on their child’s phone so they can monitor what they’re doing without them being without their phones altogether.

Both of the teens that the AMBER alerts were issued for have since been found safe.

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