Erik Estrada, who played a police officer on the show "CHiPs" in the 1970s and '80s, became a real one when he was sworn in as a reserve cop in St. Anthony, Idaho.
Estrada, 67,who posted about the July 3 honor on Twitter, will focus on protecting children from online predators,
Today reported. He is spokesman for the Safe Surfin' Foundation, which educates about internet safety and works to track down online predators.
“Education is the best protection especially on the Internet," Estrada told the
Idaho State Journal. "Children should be educated in how to handle a chat room. Don’t give out personal information. Certainly don’t give out your mother’s or father’s name or what school you go to. Don’t ever accept gifts. Certainly don’t ever go meet someone you’ve been chatting with. They’re not who they are. If they send a picture, that isn’t them.”
Estrada's team is developing programs to help keep kids safe online, including software to record children’s pictures and provide other helpful information in the event a child goes missing, the newspaper said.
After his role on "CHiPs," Estrada worked nights as a reserve officer in Muncie, Indiana, where he got to know officers working against internet predators.
When the former actor first reached out to the St. Anthony police department about six weeks ago, many people thought it was a hoax.
"As a community it is really hard to imagine, I mean come into a small community in Idaho and have somebody of his stature and notoriety here is, I’m just flabbergasted that he was even willing to come here and do it," Police Chief Terry Harris told
KPVI-TV.
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