Is this police training action at DD(14) school really bizarre, bordering on inappropriate, or completely fine and normal?

[questionzzz]

This is kind of preying on my mind.
A local police officer made a fake instagram account impersonating a teen from a (different) local school, and sent "friends requests" to a bunch of students at the local high where DD goes. Some of them accepted, despite not knowing the person who had sent them the request- one of them being one of DD's friends.
So this officer saw what these schoolkids are posting on their (private) accounts. DD's friend posts a lot, including pics of herself in clothes showing cleavage. Apparently, according to DDfriend, the police officer subsequently approached her, told her that the pics were inappropriate- these pics were subsequently deleted from the account. This happened to several students (dunno if just girls targeted, or boys too) On Thursday (yesterday), the officer addressed the whole school, told them about this instagram experiment, how dangerous social media was, talked to them about sexting and sending nudes and the fact that it is illegal at their age, told them how a boy two years above than them, super smart with a great future etc, had showed nudes of his gf to other boys and was now in prison, his whole life ruined before it started, on the sex offender's registry.

The speech seemed to have backfired, because as far as I can tell, the kids seem to have more sympathy with the boy in the police officer's story?

Anyway- the speech wasn't that bad if heavy-handed, and I'm all on board for training about social media- , but the whole instagram experiment thing? I can't seem to wrap my head around it. It seems- over-zealous? Right now, it's become a bit of creepy joke with DD and her friends- I heard them going through their accounts "ooo that one would be banned FOR SUUURE"

what do you think?

Where I live each school has an assigned police officer that regularly spends time in the classrooms, mulls about the hall, spends time in the playground.
Lessons like the one the OP describe are not unusual.
Excellent program

"I think the OP was written carefully, to imply that the police office was male, which had the desired effect - many posters assumed that was the case".
? Huh? I like to think I am a careful writer- and I was writing carefully, simply because I know the issue of teenagers, social media, etc is sensitive and must be tread on carefully. After I realised ppl are asking about the sex of the police officer, I clarified the officer who actually talked to them children was female. We actually have no way of knowing the sex of the officer(s) who set up the fake account and managed it.

I don't know if the school knew or not- I assumed they would, and ppl asking me that actually got me worried, because if not, that would be opening a whole other can of worms!!

"Where I live each school has an assigned police officer that regularly spends time in the classrooms, mulls about the hall, spends time in the playground. "

Why?

Community Liaison.

School Liaison Officer
The SLO is responsible for assigning General Duty members a specific school to ensure positive interaction with youth, and to assist all schools within the community to deal with policing issues.

as a parent i really liked the program. they knew the children by name, spoke to them when on duty, when they were teens and often prone to mischief they would drive them home ;) the kids loved that.

Another one here who thinks this is a great idea. As well as raising awareness of the issue, I think it's a fantastic way of creating a better relationship between Police and young people, who may only ever see them being there for punishment on not the far better approach of prevention.

Sorry Christmascard, having my kids driven home by a police officer due to some "mischief" is easily up there among my top five nightmares. I would absolutely not love it!

Our school district also have Community police officers roaming around- but I don't think (tbh I don't know) that they are there all the time. I know they do speeches and lessons (drugs, drinking etc). I would like to think our schools are safe, without a necessary presence of a police officer, unless specific/exceptional circumstances (a potentially violent parent few years ago had two highly visible officers out on the playground- very thankful for that!!!) . Maybe I am being optimistic.

it's all about the relationship they develop. honestly the kids would flag them down and request rides home.

in the name of security and fear from sexual predators (who, from my non-expert understanding, are far more likely to operate in close circles of families and friends)

Human trafficking is at an all time high in North America right now. It use to be that young women from 3rd world countries were brought to N. America by human traffickers. Now, young women leave their homes to meet up with someone they know on-line, and then sold. And then sold over and over and over.

I think your response is very naïve, flippant, and uninformed.

www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/the-trafficked-how-sex-trafficking-works-in-canada/article28700689/

"I do find the idea of the police officer trawling through lots of teenagers instagram pages a bit uncomfortable."

The police look many worse things than a teenager's Instagram's photos. Be sensible here! The parents have failed to educate their children so the policeman did it.

Yeah, well there was sex-trafficking ring in our area, so I've heard, which was busted a few years ago. And you know who it was ran by? Three local school families. Trafficking, for sex and labour is absolutely happening all around us. It's in the food we are eating, clothes on our backs.
www.ted.com/talks/noy_thrupkaew_human_trafficking_is_all_around_you_this_is_how_it_works

It's got very little to do with what this police action at the school around instagram was doing..

Personally think there are better ways to educate teens about the dangers- they are very sophisticated users of social media. At my kids school the boys and girls were separated for some of it - the girls had some cool 20 something women talk to them about what happened to them and the risks. The girls were inspired - not shamed or slammed. The boys had similar.

In the UK the police have rowed back from the imprisoning stance for young men/boys - and I wondered whether the example given was real. Should we be criminalising young kids in relationships - something that goes on their record for life? Not sure.

And by the way, before I get slammed, both my kids know it's not a clever, cool of acceptable thing to do. Just not sure a police officer catching them out would have worked.

OP you seem to be focusing on what seems to be a side issue in this awareness raising exercise. The policewoman may have gone beyond her remit by approaching dd's friend and suggesting her photos were inappropriate (have you seen any of them, and if so did you think they were fine for public viewing?) but you don't seem to have looked at the big picture at all.

Your dd is not using social media very sensibly and may be putting herself at risk. My children are a bit older but were taught as soon as they had social media accounts never to 'friend' anyone who you don't know in person. Neither have 'only' 200 friends. Neither post sexy pictures because they know that they would have little control of where those pictures might end up. There are some predatory people out there and they don't need to have any physical contact at all to harm your child. If you are from Canada you have probably heard about Amanda Todd? She was targeted by a man from Holland.

I have to agree with Nooka here. Her points are valid. OP, you misdirecting your disappointment/anger at the police. They did an excellent exercise.
If her friend with the 500+ friends has a successful blog, maybe she needs to differentiate between public and private persona. I follow some big makeup artists online, I have no idea of their cleavage or anything personal. That’s no excuse.

And lastly (and my biggest beef in your post), is the BLATANT JUSTIFICATION for a criminal. I don’t care if a teens boy life was ruined if he show/distributed or share any kind of nude picture send to him for his eyes only. Nowhere did you mention the damage that was done to the wronged party, only felt sorry for the criminal. Do you believe it was the girl’s (or whomever was naked in the pictures) fault for sending nudes?
That’s bang out of order and you need a word with yourself.

I agree with Bouledeneige: to make this effective for kids that age, it needs to be done in the right way. The goal should be to get the kids to think and to get them on the side of the police officer. Shaming, exaggerating, and threatening are very ineffective when dealing with teenagers, in my experience.

Well, I don't know if the police-officer went around it the right way, but I am appalled at what some of my neighbours allow their young girls to post on the internet. My dd found two twelve-year-old neighbours making videos for Youtube giving their names, addresses, what school they went to, etc. And we live in Mexico, where teenage girls are going missing at a tremendous rate.

When I was in primary school a group of us were approached by a woman who asked if we wanted to see some puppies and she led us off the school grounds. She was a police officer and the 'stranger danger' lesson was excellent imo.

Fantastic idea. It should be happening in schools all the time.

I used to be a Secondary school Teacher, and some of the awful scenarios we’d have to try and deal with that had occurred, or started on social media were disgraceful - and very time consuming too.

I had a student under the age of consent lured in to prostitution via online grooming, and another (also under age), who has been forced into having incredibly sexually graphic photos and videos taken and posted. The worst footage was released as an ‘act of revenge.’ Neither should’ve happened regardless of age, but obviously the added element of paedophilic behaviour adds further severity and disgust to the case. Filthy bastards taking advantage.

If a police man or woman could’ve prevented either of these things from happening, I’d have been overjoyed.

Great exercise but the emphasis should not have been on the clothes but on how much information was given away, how easily a predator can track down. How any of the other 'teens'on your dds account could be slimy people using her and other teen accounts as a wank bank or to troll. Hell a predator could be a sexual sadist or a murderer or a stalker at the extreme end of the scale.

Though if the parents of your dds friend had been the one targetted by the police and informed how easily it would be to find and target her dd, maybe she get a clue planted up her backside. Its very often parents being blase that makes the kids open to target.

I think it was crass and unethical.

“And I guarantee he wasn't doing it off his own back, it will be an authorised action plan.”

Well, you can’t guarantee that, can you? It should have been, but we don’t know.

A number of years ago when social media was starting up I did an assembly for my year group; the night before I searched the friends site I knew they were using and due to accounts being wide open that some lads were meeting to play pool at the weekend, about a party happening including exact address who was taking the booze etc amongst other things. During the assembly I thanked them for the invite, told them that I might also wear a blue top just like A was going to wear etc etc; cue gasps from the students

That night all accounts had been locked down.

As a HoY it was the most important assembly I had ever delivered

Haha Cricketballs I do the same with my students when we are planning work experience - how much do they want a random employer knowing about them? and can I come to the party too?

Cricketbslls: spot on!
You stopped short of hiding behind a fake name and insinuating their accounts.
People with a duty of care are very much advised NOT to be friends with the young people they work with on social media. The police officer in question did so under an alias.

BOP, there is cleavage