The Arlington County Police Department launched a MySpace profile in their efforts to protect children from online predators. 

According to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, one in seven youths between the ages of 10 and 17 has been solicited or approached online by a sexual predator.

On March 20th, an investigation lead by a detective with the Arlington Special Victims Unit, resulted in the arrest of a Swedish national who traveled to Arlington to meet a young girl. A week later, a man from Baltimore was convicted in Arlington of soliciting a minor online.

Crimes like these are plenty and are out there. The Arlington Police Department are hoping kids who use MySpace will add them to their "top friends" list to discourage predators from getting in contact with them.

"We don't want to mislead any kids or their parents into thinking this will completely protect them online," said Arlington Chief Doug Scott. "But if they add a link to our page, hopefully the police emblem will scare off anyone with unscrupulous motives." 

According to ACPD, their MySpace page will provide links to information about internet safety and crime prevention.

College interns in the Criminal Investigations Section designed the MySpace page and they will continue to help monitor and maintain it.

On the net:
Visit their MySpace page.

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