Anti-drugs campaign: Cops tapping social media to teach kids

CEBU, Philippines- With the short attention span of today’s kids, the police will utilize social media and theater play to impart to them the lessons of their anti-illegal drugs awareness campaign.

During the Barkadahay Bag-ong Tambayan program of radio dyRF, Regional Public Safety Battalion-7 Spokesperson Edwin Catamco said they noticed that during sessions in far-flung areas elementary students listen to them only in the first 15 minutes.

But, he said, resource speakers need more than that during their lectures, usually to hundreds of students, so they are eyeing a more innovate way to get the message across.

Catamco said the Police Community Relations Branch of the RPSB-7 would use social media and theater play to portray the difference between a drug-dependent person and those who do not use illegal drugs.

He said they would need volunteers once the program is approved and implemented.

He said their Facebook page “Rpsb Seven” and their Twitter page “RPSB7” is very active in posting accomplishments and giving tidbits of information in order to engage the netizens in the region.

Recently, Catamco said, posts from their page had hundreds of likes and shares, proving that they are on the right track.

He said children listening to lectures tend to get bored of the lengthy discussion, but if they see people acting on stage they tend to pay more attention.

And by paying more attention to the act performed on-stage, the children absorb the information better compared to listening to a long lecture.

Catamco said that they are also looking for possible partners in their campaign to effectively spread awareness on the ill-effects of drugs. He said they are particularly targeting the youth since most if not all drug dependents are young people.

RPSB-7’s Senior Inspector  Genesis Aniversario, on the other hand, said the problem could not be addressed by the police alone. He reiterated what had always been declared before—the community plays a very important role in effectively stamping the social menace.

He said the people need to be the ears and eyes of authorities by immediately reporting someone using and/or selling drugs so they can act on the information.

Aniversario said that aside from the Police Hotline 117, the public can also reach RPSB-7 through their social media page.  He assured that identities of informants would not be divulged to anyone.  (FREEMAN)