McGruff Takes a Bite Out of Internet Crime

Go McGruff was created by child safety experts and operates under a partnership between the nonprofit National Crime Prevention Council and Parents on Patrol.

McGruff Safeguard protects children by alerting their parents in real-time to potentially dangerous behavior. It also alerts parents to situations involving sexual abuse, drug use, Internet predators, cyber-bullying and other threats.

The success of this program is evident from information right on the homepage, where live stats are listed: over 294 million Web visits tracked, nearly 318 million chat messages analyzed, and just over 5 million warnings sent to parents.

In the "Features" section you can check out the highlights of the program. From ways to monitor online activity to alerts of improper internet use. The program is designed to simplify ways to protect your children. For example, the program educates parents on "kidspeak" which helps decipher some of the cryptic acronyms kids use these days.

McGruff Safeguard is also customizable by age group and alert topics, allowing parents to view a full 30-day log of activities of instant message conversations, internet use, search, social networks and more.

On the site, you can also check out testimonials from users on topics like general parenting tips, sexual content, drug related sites, and general awareness of dangerous situations.