Staci's Place:
Dealing with Online
Bullies
The Treasure Keeper
This
is a possible solution to the "There is no evidence" problem, at
least for older children - but remember - this page is for
"information only". This kind of action is risky and it could be
illegal in some places. Secret taping is a "last ditch"
desperation move, because it can backfire.
So first, find out what the laws are in
your state or province regarding taping others without permission. If it
is legal in your area, this may work. If not, and you tape others without
notification, you may be criminally charged, so do so at your own risk!
Second - make sure your child is capable
of pulling this off in secret. Do test runs at home with your child to
make sure that they can trigger the recorder without being noticed.
Impress on them how important it is that nobody knows about this but you
and them - make them understand that this is not a toy to show off to
their friends. It could be confiscated by the school or stolen by the
bullies. And the bullying could escalate to violence once they realize
there is evidence of their misdeeds. I would only use this idea when I was
sure of the child's ability to manage the recorder and keep it secret
(especially once the bullying behavior is caught on tape). It may be
tempting for a bullied child to go "Nyah nyah, I got you on
tape!" and that would be an incredibly bad idea. Tell
them to say nothing about the recording, to bring it home to you.
Buy a digital audio recorder. My
preference is the Panasonic RR-QR80 - hard to find new now, but you may
find one on eBay. If you can't find that model, Radio Shack has others
that will be effective. Maybe get one with an MP3 player - your child will
enjoy listening to music on it, and that will also disguise its true
purpose if it is discovered. It also makes a handy "note-keeper"
for students too (though some schools do not allow that). I bought mine
mainly for press conferences, but it was so handy to "jot down"
ideas verbally I am rarely without it. It recently occurred to me it would
be incredibly handy for dealing with repeated bullying.
Make a "treasure keeper" (click
here for instructions) for your child to wear, like this one:
The child can then wear the device under
their clothing, like a necklace, and easily trigger it when they are in a
risky situation. What I like about this model of recorder is it has a big
"record" button in front that you can trigger without taking it
out of the Treasure Keeper. The default "beep" when the button
is pushed can be turned off, and there is "voice activation" as
well.
I prefer digital to micro-tape cassettes,
because it is tiny, can be utterly silent, and if nothing is caught, you
can immediately erase the recording. With this model, you can easily
transfer to tape or computer to save evidence permanently because there is
an earphone jack. You just get a cord
that goes from the earphone jack to the microphone jack in your tape
recorder. Make sure there is a safe additional copy of any evidence you
collect! It could "disappear" while in the hands of authorities.
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