Shaquille O'Neal is spending part of his summer lending his name -- and his 7-foot-1 frame -- to efforts designed to stamp out online predators.

The Miami Heat center, who was in Bedford this morning, is national spokesperson for the Safe Surfin' Foundation and a member of Bedford County's Blue Ridge Thunder Internet Crimes Against Children task force. He spent part of Sunday filming public service announcements with a girl who was the victim of Internet crime, and he met with the Rev. Jerry Falwell.

Operation Blue Ridge Thunder was one of the first 10 task forces in ICAC, which is a branch of the Department of Justice. Bedford County Sheriff Mike Brown scored O'Neal for the job.

O'Neal said earlier this year that he first became interested in police work after touring the Federal Bureau of Investigation, where he also first learned about Internet crime. He is now a certified police officer, having graduated from the police academy in Los Angeles in 2000. O'Neal won three NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers before being traded to Miami last fall.

This afternoon, Shaq -- make that Honorary Special Deputy U.S. Marshal O'Neal -- will visit the U.S. Marshals Office in Roanoke.