Opinion: 48 hours community service for those found guilty of carelessly taking part in the ridiculous 48 missing persons challenge – TheLiberal.ie – Our News, Your Views

Opinion: 48 hours community service for those found guilty of carelessly taking part in the ridiculous 48 missing persons challenge




Over the past few years Ireland and the world has seen many teenagers disappear from their homes which is every parents worst nightmare, however sometimes those worrying missing persons cases can be sometimes be the result of an unthoughtful prank by teenagers who just don’t think what impact their actions have on those closest to them.

In a recent social media trend teenagers are seemingly undertaking the so called ’48 hour challenge’ that sees them deliberately go missing from home all in the name of fun and in an effort to look cool amongst their friends.

The challenge which has even caught the attentions of Facebook, purposely waste’s much needed Garda resources as worried and distraught parents do all they can to find their missing child.

Although the news that their child has been found safe and well is a God send to every parent who has been put through what can only be described as their worst nightmare. Surely those teenagers who partake in the ridiculous challenge should recieve some form of a formal charge for their thoughtless actions.

Ok many of you may argue that not all cases are the same, and we agree that all missing persons cases should be taken seriously once they are reported, however surely something must be done to stop the problem that is childish pranks which have undoubtedly gotten out of hand.

In recent weeks Facebook said they are looking into the issue which has now become a global problem, but we feel policing authorities around the world could do more to eradicate the issue once and for all.

It maybe unfair to punish those for partaking in the game right off the bat, but surely repeat offenders who openly participate in the game should face some charge that would ultimately make them think twice about taking part in a game that causes nothing but worry and fear for not only parents but the general public aswell.

I think we could all agree that a prison sentence would be far too harsh to hand out, but a scenario that would see repeat offenders taking part in a community service programme would surely deter those from taking part in the game again.

Even though there would be many kinks to working out a system, we feel a system were those found guilty of wasting Garda time by taking part in the challenge could be given a 48 hour community service sentence that would be supervised by personnel from the Garda reserve.

The system which could also be ran as a group exercise could potentially put an end to the growing problem that is becoming more popular, by making those who think it is funny to go missing, do something for their community rather than worry them.

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