Erik Estrada to battle internet predators in small-town Idaho

By William Hughes  |  July 6, 2016 | 9:31pm
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Joining the ranks of such other actors-turned-cops as Shaquille O’Neal, Steven Seagal, and ace legal mind James Woods, CHiPS star Erik Estrada has been named a reserve police officer in the small town of St. Anthony, Idaho. Rather than blazing the small city’s highways and byways on a badass hog, though—as he did on CHiPS, a TV show that existed in a simpler age, free of dangerous internet temptations—Estrada will be educating the town’s children on how to avoid predators online.

“Children should be educated in how to handle a chat room,” Estrada said, shortly after being sworn in to his new duties by the town’s mayor. “Don’t give out personal information. 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.” The exception, of course, being if they claim to be the star of the hit telenovela Dos Mujeres, Un Camino, and their picture looks like this:

This isn’t Estrada’s first induction as an officer of the law, actually. He was named a reserve officer in Muncie, Indiana back in 2004, and has worked for several years as a deputy sheriff in Virginia. His recent efforts—including starring in a low-budget film about a young girl kidnapped by an online predator—have been focused on the Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce, work that’s now brought him to Idaho.

[via The Associated Press]

 
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