Naperville Honored as One of Six Cyber Safe Cities in Nationwide Program



Pam Portin, director of MSN Policy, and Susan Culler, vice president of development of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children presents Mayor George Pradel and the city of Naperville with the Cyber Safe City award recognizing the Naperville Police department as well as local and state officials for their commitment to online safety.

NAPERVILLE, Ill., May 6, 2003 — MSN®
and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), one of the world’s leading child advocacy groups, today recognized Naperville as a Cyber Safe City — one of only six American cities to be so honored — and local police officer Detective Mike
“Sully”
Sullivan, and crime prevention specialists Sharon Murphy and Marcia Schild, as Cyber Safe City Heroes for championing online safety in their community. Mayor George Pradel kicked off the Cyber Safe City activities by issuing an official proclamation at an event held at the City Council chambers in the Naperville Municipal Center.

The Cyber Safe City designation is part of a joint initiative between MSN and NCMEC that recognizes cities that are pioneering the drive toward keeping the nation’s children safer online and encourages other cities across America to follow the lead of these online safety role models. The Cyber Safe City program also is designed to provide resources to law enforcement agencies, educators and families for online safety education in Naperville and throughout the United States.

“The Naperville Police Department, members of the Naperville community and various state officials have dedicated themselves to helping ensure that our children are safe online,”
said Pradel.
“We’re thrilled our hard work and diligence in online safety has been recognized, and we hope our commitment to fighting cybercrime will serve as an example for communities nationwide.”

In addition to the education and training resources MSN and NCMEC are implementing locally, best practices from Naperville and the other Cyber Safe Cities — Dallas; New York; San Diego; Seattle; and Sioux Falls, S.D. — are being made available at http://www.staysafeonline.com/ to serve as a resource for other communities interested in extending their commitment to online safety.

“Our comprehensive program not only helps further Naperville’s commitment to protecting its residents online by providing resources and educational tools to law enforcement, but it offers national recognition for the great work Naperville is doing to promote a safer Internet experience,”
said Ernie Allen, co-founder and president of NCMEC.

Naperville has been chosen as a Cyber Safe City because of its extensive commitment to online safety. One of the first police departments in the nation to launch a High Tech Crime Investigation Unit, the Naperville Computer Crime Unit has been involved in the arrest of more than 100 child predators since 1996. In addition, Naperville Police Department detectives also are members of the High Technology Crime Investigation Association, the premier organization for computer crime investigation standards. The police department’s Internet Crimes Unit and the Illinois Attorney General’s Internet Task Force also developed the Safekids Web site ( http://www.microsoft.com/safekids/ ), one of the first of its kind in the nation, which was designed to help parents and educators teach children the fundamental
“rules of the road”
for safe exploration online.

“Our goal with the Cyber Safe City program is to recognize the great work and commitment to online safety made by Naperville and to encourage other cities to follow Naperville’s example,”
said Pam Portin, director of policy at MSN.
“As a world leader in Internet software and services, MSN is committed to creating software and providing resources that enable individuals and families to have a fun, useful and safe online experience.”

To find out more about how to stay safe online and about the activities in each of the Cyber Safe Cities, law enforcement personnel, educators, parents and kids are encouraged to visit http://www.staysafeonline.com/ .

About the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children is a 501(c)(3), nonprofit organization that works in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. NCMEC has access to both the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (NLETS). NCMEC operates the CyberTipline, an online mechanism to report child sexual exploitation such as online enticement of children for sex acts and child pornography. Mandated by the U.S. Congress in 1998, the CyberTipline has received over 120,000 reports leading to hundreds of arrests of child predators. Created in 1984, NCMEC has aided law-enforcement officials in the search for more than 89,000 missing children. More than 73,000 children have been recovered as a result. More information about NCMEC is available by calling (800) THE-LOST (843-5678) or visiting http://www.missingkids.com/ .

About MSN

MSN has 8.7 million subscriptions and attracts more than 300 million unique users worldwide per month. With localized versions available globally in 34 markets and

18 languages, MSN is a world leader in delivering Web services to consumers and digital marketing solutions to businesses worldwide. MSN 8 is the first Internet software product to have earned the trusted Good Housekeeping Seal. The most useful and innovative online service today, MSN brings consumers everything they need from the Web to make the most of their time online. MSN is located on the Web at http://www.msn.com/ . MSN worldwide sites are located at http://www.msn.com/worldwide.ashx .

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.

Microsoft, the MSN logo and MSN are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

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