TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) – The Terre Haute Police Department is rolling out a new safety initiative for the start of the school year, aiming to give students a safe, confidential way to report online predators and internet extortion crimes.
The campaign centers around highly visible posters and flyers that will be hung in area schools. These materials include a QR code that students can scan to discretely contact detectives who specialize in online predator and “sextortion” cases.
“It’s also more convenient and easier to find children,” said Captain Gary Shook of the Terre Haute Police Department, noting that early digital connection helps police protect minors and locate victims faster.
To maximize the campaign’s reach, the initial wave of posters will go up in high-traffic student areas.
“They are going to be posted in public areas where it’s easy to, where there’s the most amount of people, most amount of students,” Shook said. ”They’ll be able to see it there.”
The campaign addresses a growing national and local trend of online predators targeting minors through social media and messaging apps. Unlike older forms of abuse, Shook noted that online crimes leave behind digital footprints that aid law enforcement.
“The good thing about the digital aspect is that it does give us concrete evidence,” Shook said. ”It’s not a child’s word against a predator’s, and he says it didn’t happen.”
Because victimized students often deal with heavy shame and fear of peer judgment, Terre Haute Police plan to place the materials in private areas where students can access help without anyone watching.
“We also want to put it, potentially in bathrooms or locker rooms, somewhere where there is some privacy,” Shook said. ”Because I feel like there is probably some students that would be embarrassed to get caught taking pictures of the QR codes or the information for fear of people watching them or judging them.”
By tailoring the campaign to be as discrete as possible, local police hope to break down the barriers of embarrassment that prevent teenagers from coming forward.
“Kids maybe still don’t feel comfortable, they’re embarrassed,” Shook said. ”So this is a way to put the information in areas where they can discretely have help.”
Flyers are expected to appear in Terre Haute area middle and high schools over the coming weeks as classes resume.
Copyright 2026 WTHI. All rights reserved.
