Darren Laur, the presenter, brings 30 years of law enforcement experience, and close to 20 years of being a digital literacy and internet safety educator to this presentation.

Over the past decade, The White Hatter has delivered social media safety and digital literacy education to more than 1,000 schools and over 700,000 youth and teens across Canada and the United States. Through this work, one message has been consistently shared by law enforcement professionals:

“Many of the youth, teens, and young adults we interact with daily are deeply immersed in online environments that influence their behaviour, relationships, decision-making, and involvement in critical incidents. Yet most of us have received little formal training on the digital spaces they occupy.”

Today’s youth are living in an increasingly connected “onlife” world where social media, gaming platforms, messaging applications, online communities, and artificial intelligence are shaping how they communicate, socialize, learn, and sometimes engage in harmful or criminal behaviour. Understanding these environments is no longer optional for law enforcement professionals. It has become an operational necessity.

This dynamic and practical two-hour professional development workshop is designed specifically for law enforcement personnel who want to better understand youth digital culture, emerging technologies, online risk factors, and how these elements intersect with policing, investigations, threat assessment, officer safety, and community engagement.

Participants will gain practical knowledge, current intelligence, and evidence-informed strategies that can be immediately applied in their professional roles. The content also complements existing threat assessment and violence prevention models by helping officers better understand the digital behaviours, online communications, and virtual environments that often precede critical incidents.

Learning Objectives

• Participants will learn:

• How youth, teens, and young adults are using social media, gaming platforms, messaging applications, and online communities.

• The role technology plays in youth victimization, offending behaviour, exploitation, radicalization, bullying, and violence-related incidents

• Current legal considerations, case law, and best practices related to youth and social media investigations.

• How artificial intelligence is influencing youth behaviour and the emerging challenges AI presents for Canadian law enforcement.

• How to establish and interpret a youth’s digital baseline during investigations, threat assessments, and intervention processes.

• Strategies for identifying online behaviours and warning signs that may indicate escalating risk.

• How online activity can be weaponized against officers and practical steps to reduce personal and professional risk.

• The language, terminology, symbols, acronyms, and communication styles commonly used by youth in digital environments.

• Current trends involving popular social media platforms, gaming environments, and emerging technologies.

• What “vault” and “decoy” applications are, how they work, and why some youth use them.

• Recommended tools and practices to enhance officer privacy, security, and digital safety.

• Effective and professional uses of social media within a law enforcement role.

• The importance of organizational social media policies and digital conduct standards.

• How online activity can lead to professional discipline, reputational harm, or operational consequences for officers both on and off duty.

• Emerging trends involving AI-generated content, deepfakes, digital deception, and synthetic media.

• Current online behaviours and digital ecosystems that are contributing to youth-related critical incidents and criminal investigations.

Key Topics Covered

• Youth Digital Culture and Behaviour

• Social Media Trends and Emerging Platforms

• Artificial Intelligence and Youth Use

• Threat Assessment and Digital Baselines

• Online Radicalization and Influence

• Sextortion, Exploitation, and Online Grooming

• Digital Evidence Awareness

• Officer Safety in the Digital Environment

• Privacy, Security, and Reputation Management

• Vault and Decoy Applications

• Online Slang, Symbols, and Communication Trends

• Professional Use of Social Media

• Organizational Policy and Risk Management

• AI Challenges Facing Canadian Law Enforcement

• Emerging Online Threats and Future Trends

Who Should Attend

This workshop is designed for:

* Front-line police officers

* School liaison officers

* Youth investigators

* Community policing members

* Threat assessment teams

* Crime prevention practitioners

* Intelligence personnel

* School resource officers

* Supervisors and leaders

* Probation and youth justice professionals

No advanced technical knowledge or social media expertise is required. This session is designed for professionals who want practical, operationally relevant information that can immediately enhance their understanding of today’s youth and the digital environments in which they live, communicate, and sometimes offend.

Level: Introductory to Intermediate