Tooled Up For School.

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This video appeared on the West Midlands Police Youtube site last week. It is part of the Tooled up for School campaign.

As I write this has been seen a couple of hundred times.  It is a song produced for a dvd which is used in schools to discourage children from carrying weapons.  In it the singer Witness uses the phrase “…goodness gracious me” rhymed with ..”weaponry”.

The video is beautifuly made, the music good quality and getting this onto youtube makes sense simply because, with all public organisations, my view is if you’ve got it then share it, somehow.

But this is material designed to be used in a controlled, adult led, educational environment yet is now spilling onto the social web.

Some questions: Had it been intended to make its way on the social web in the first place would it be the same product? Is this optimised to go viral amongst children who will be tempted to carry weapons in school?  Is it right that the campaign url www.oneknifeonelife.co.uk  essentially re-directs users to part of the West Midlands police website?

The whole programme has been funded by the Birmingham Children’s Fund, Birmingham Community Safety Partnership and West Midlands Police – a force that took to podcasting very early on with the fab Plodcast.