Ballymena PSNI highlight dangers of online sharing

Inspector Simpson took to Facebook on Tuesday asking the public to spread awareness of the dangers by sharing an image of a toy police car and dinosaur on social media.

He reported back on Wednesday to say that the post was shared nearly 20,000 times in 24 hours.

He added: “It was spread across the world, to New Zealand, Australia, Gambia, USA and Iceland but to name a few.

“Please as a parent bring this to the attention of your children. Please be that nosey parent that checks who their kids are talking to online.”

Insp. Simpson said the reasoning behind the idea was to show children how far a simple Facebook post can go.

“All too often we as the PSNI have to deal with kids sending inappropriate images of themselves to their boyfriends or girlfriends. Believe me when I say it, once that picture is shared, it will invariably end up on line; this can be devastating for the young person involved and indeed their families,” Insp. Simpson said.

He added: “If this post can stop one person making the same mistake then you will have played a major part in that.”