Standing out in front of 40 or so Grade 5 to 7 students, Cpl. Kevin Krygier asked his attentive audience to hit him with some social media platforms, other than Facebook.
Within two minutes, the Gilmore elementary kids had rattled off Snapchat, Pinterest, Skype, YouTube, Twitter, Google Plus, Tumbler and Reddit.
Suffice to say, kids these days, especially it would seem the ones out in West Richmond, are well up to speed on using the Internet to socialize and, dare we say, educate themselves on the ways of the world.
But that didn’t stop Richmond RCMP’s Krygier, of the Crime Prevention Unit, and Const. Jason Pickering, of the Youth Section, teaching the students a thing or two about Internet safety during a two-week program.
“(During the program), we posted a picture online to see how far it could reach,” Krygier told the News.
“In four days, 10,000 people had seen it across 12 countries. I think that came as quite a surprise to some of them.
“We wanted to teach them about the dangers of the Internet. Const. Pickering did lecture about Internet safety; the positives and negatives; we talked about the different devices and the risks.
“We asked them to think about how many ‘friends’ online really are their friends.”
As well as conversations about cyber-bullying and posting images and photos online, Krygier said they also wanted the students to see the positive side of social media and devices and challenged them to do a project that gave them “something real to work on.”
The officers then partnered with Ignite The Warmth, an eight-strong group — the majority of whom are Steveston-London alumni — with a mission to bring awareness to and help alleviate homelessness, particularly on the Downtown Eastside (DTES).
“The kids used iPads to make digital greeting cards, sent them to Ignite The Warmth and they were then printed out and made into actual greeting cards,” explained Krygier.
“Those cards will then become part of the Ignite The Warmth packages being handed out to the homeless in the Downtown Eastside next week.”
Gilmore elementary principal Mark David said teachers were already talking to the students about online safety, so the program with the RCMP was very timely.
“Kids are starting to use technology at a very early age and we wanted to instill in them good habits and teach them to be good leaders,” said David.
The school, added David, will be partnering again with the police in February, this time running a presentation for parents, with respect to keeping their kids safe while they’re online.
