There are times cyberbullying is something best handled by a child, his parents and/or the school.There are other times when cyberbullying requires the intervention of law enforcement. This is certainly true when a child feels threatened by the cyberbullying.

Here are some examples when law enforcement should be brought in:

• A provocative post in a pedophile chatroom providing the name, address and telephone number of the victim can result in sexual predators showing up at the victim’s home or calling them.
• A hateful message posing as the victim posted on a Nazi group’s discussion boards will result in angry Nazi responses.
• Intentionally racist remarks falsely attributed to the victim and planted in a member of a racial or ethnic group’s guestbook will help fuel cyberattacks against the victim by irate members of that group.

With very few exceptions, cyberbullies can be identified by a trail left in cyberspace. In addition, monitoring software applications can gather and save evidence in a form law enforcement agencies and lawyers need.

We thank Parry Aftab for her input. For additional information, visit CyberLawEnforcement.org or Net Bullies.