Free online training helps New Mexico parents spot grooming signs

Online predators are active every day in huge numbers, and Bernalillo County families will get a free chance to learn how those dangers show up before they turn into abuse. The Child Crime Prevention and Safety Center estimates about 500,000 online predators are active each day, a scale that has pushed New Mexico officials to treat grooming and exploitation as a front-line public safety issue.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Mexico is hosting the free virtual training on June 16 with the New Mexico Collaborative Human Trafficking Task Force. It is aimed at parents and teens and will walk participants through real cases, practical prevention strategies and resources for recognizing and responding to online grooming and exploitation attempts. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison is scheduled to speak, and the program will include a question-and-answer session so families can raise concerns directly.

The session fits into a longer effort that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Mexico has been building for years. Its online-exploitation work is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide Department of Justice initiative launched in May 2006 to combat technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation and abuse. The office says it has offered an online safety program since 2009 and works with the New Mexico Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office, the FBI, ICE, the Postal Service, the U.S. Marshals Service and other partners.

That enforcement network has grown into a major national prevention system. The Justice Department says the Internet Crimes Against Children task forces have reviewed more than 516,000 complaints of child exploitation and led to more than 54,000 arrests, while also training more than 465,000 law enforcement officers, prosecutors and other professionals. The department’s child-exploitation strategy also emphasizes prevention and teaching children and caregivers how to use privacy settings and recognize manipulative tactics before harm spreads.

The warning signs matter because the threat often moves through platforms young people use every day. In a national alert on sextortion, the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said law enforcement received more than 7,000 reports in 2022, involving at least 3,000 victims, primarily boys. The alert said more than a dozen victims were reported to have died by suicide, underscoring how quickly online contact can turn dangerous on social media, gaming and video chat platforms.

New Mexico’s response also reflects a broader statewide support system. The New Mexico Human Trafficking Task Force brings together state, local, tribal and federal agencies, prosecutors and service providers, with the New Mexico Office of the Attorney General and The Life Link serving as its core team. The Life Link says its Anti-Human Trafficking Initiative in Santa Fe is the state’s only comprehensive aftercare program for trafficking survivors, a reminder that prevention has to happen early. For families in Albuquerque and across Bernalillo County, the June 16 training is meant to do exactly that.