Social media sites and apps are an integral and pervasive influence in today’s society and the RCMP are working to educate youth about the possible risks of online interactions.
It is a relatively new focus for the RCMP, but an important one given the number of youth who have cellphones and almost constant access to sites like Facebook, Twitter and apps like Instagram and Snapchat.
Sergeant Al Leblanc says there are officers who work closely with schools to raise awareness among youth on how to minimize their risk.
“Our officers will be talking with young people and telling them look, there are dangers associated to cyberspace,” says Leblanc. “Yes it’s a great tool but you gotta be cautious and of course through education we are hoping young people will get the message.”
Leblanc says one of the most important lessons they are trying to teach youth is about the permanence of making photos available online. Leblanc says “once you hit that send button, it’s gone, you can never take it back.”
He adds the prevalence of cellphones among today’s youth makes education that much more important and he believes community policing and the work of liaison officers at the school level is critical.
Leblanc says another facet of their educational plan is to create a safe environment for young people to report any form of cyber attacks, or bullying to parents, teachers or other authoirity figures.
