Charlottetown police focusing on cyber bullying at junior high level

Charlottetown police are stepping up education about cyber bullying after what they say appears to be an increase in the number of inappropriate social media posts at the junior high school level.

In some cases, the bullying can qualify as criminal harassment, according to school liaison officer Const. Tim Keizer. 

"For the younger ages right now we're utilizing our youth justice workers that are attached to the police departments. And they're quite busy as a result of this," Keizer told CBC News: Compass host Louise Martin. 

'Growing concern'

Keizer saids the cyber bullying he sees includes students encouraging others to self-harm. He's also concerned about students sharing child pornography.

"It is very much a growing concern and we're not seeing it as much at the senior high level because I guess we're tending to make better, a little bit better choices in that regard at the senior high level. But definitely at the junior high level it's definitely an issue and it's an issue at the elementary school level," Keizer said.

They're exposed to things that we were never exposed to at an extremely young age and they're becoming very desensitized to the things that we might find appalling.— Const. Tim Keizer

This year, police launched a program in Charlottetown schools called Picture This, which aims to get students thinking about the consequences that can come from social media posts. 

"I think that there's an element of fearlessness with them," Keizer said. 

"They're just not understanding that when they go on social media that they're leaving themselves wide open to everything that comes with it. They're not understanding that everybody has access to whatever they're putting down." 

Know what your kids are posting

After implementing the Picture This program in all junior highs in the Charlottetown area, Keizer saids Charlottetown police have shared the program with police in Summerside, so they have the option to use it as well. 

While police are making an effort to focus on issues of cyber bullying, Keizer saids parents should be involved in the conversation as well. 

"We should be very involved in knowing what our child is posting and what they're accessing on the internet because they're exposed to things that we were never exposed to at an extremely young age and they're becoming very desensitized to the things that we might find appalling." 

More P.E.I. news