AUBURN, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — It’s like the old game of telephone, but now it’s with a real phone and social media at teenager’s fingertips causing chaos.
“One kid shares it in class. By second period, everybody has it. Then the chaos and anxiety start again even though we’re already investigating the same post from yesterday, but it’s been reposted again and regenerated,” Auburn Superintendent Misty Slavic said.
There are social media threats that have originated from other states but spread quickly placing fear in Auburn and other Central New York schools.
“I know six or seven police departments within Central New York are dealing with this, but it’s happening in North Carolina, in Michigan. And that’s what we’re finding out, it’s the same message. It’s not even a different message. It’s the same one,” Chief of Auburn Police James Slayton said.
The same message being reposted over and over again takes up a lot of police resources. Now, both Auburn police and the Auburn superintendent are asking that parents pay closer attention to their kid’s social media accounts.
“Parents really have to oversee what their children are doing and if they are passing it along to someone else, let them know how inappropriate that is because what that does for us is that’s another lead we have to track down. Then when we talk to that individual, they’re going, ‘Oh, I just reposted it.’ And they don’t realize the consequences of doing stuff like that,” Chief Slayton said.
Auburn police will continue to investigate the social media post regarding Auburn Jr. High School and in response, they added extra patrols to all schools in the district.
“We have not disproved them completely yet. We are under the understanding that these are the same ones that are happening, and they did not generate around here, they generated in other states but made their way here and people are just passing them around,” Chief Slayton explained.
Looking ahead, the Auburn police chief and Auburn superintendent both recognize how important educating the community on these social media threats is.
“We educate. We go to parent-teacher nights. There’s one coming up. This is what we want to talk about. The Security Resource Officers talk to the parents about it. That if your child puts something out there that they have no idea about it’s easy to just forward something and stand behind a computer, they don’t understand the ramifications behind it because they could be charged,” Chief Slayton said.
“I’m not sure they’re aware when they hit that repost button, the anxiety and stress which I understand completely, but it also creates that spiral effect of just everyone’s upset and worried. So, I think it’s really important that they’re educating the community and asking the question is this real? Or is this just a repost?” Superintendent Slavic added.
All it takes is the push of a button to create chaos.
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