Police social media safety post goes around the world

PCSOs Vicki Jackson and Ken Short from the Wakefield South East NPT attended Moorthorpe Primary School to give a presentation to children on the dangers of misusing social media.

They posted an image of them posing with a card and asked people to share the post to show the pupils how quickly messages could travel.

Within 24 hours, it had reached 411,983 people and had 5,394 shares, 3,000 likes and 2,501 comments. It spread across the globe, reaching people in Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, France and parts of Africa and the Middle East.

PCSO Vicki Jackson, said: “The children were amazed on how far it had gone. A few in the class only thought it would reach the South Kirkby and South Elmsall areas. We plotted on maps the counties and countries where we had hit which, was really an eye opener for both children and staff.”

Sergeant Dave Lockwood of the South East NPT, added: “It’s been quite frankly mind boggling that Ken and Vicki’s post has had the reaction it’s had.

“As a demonstration to the children of how quickly ill-advised posts of personal information on social media could spread, the exercise was an absolutely brilliant success and should really support our education programmes.

“We want to thank everyone who shared the post and helped make a very important point to younger members of our communities about staying safe online.”