A recent initiative inspired by a couple of members of Morden Police Service (MPS) is garnering a lot of attention on the organization's social media pages.
Scavenger Hunt game play
Inspector Sean Aune explained how the MPS Scavenger Hunt works.
"They will be posting a hint every week on our social media. If you follow throughout the clues, at the end, they're going to provide a cipher, and that will give you the location where you can ultimately go and win and get our challenge coin, and there's also a cash prize."
Not too late to start hunting
With only a few clues already in play, people can still catch up and follow along for the next 6 clues.
"Once we release the clue, the game player has to go find the location we described in Morden. Generally, a business or a popular location, find our clue there somehow, and the instructions are all on our social media, on what they're to do once they find the clue, and at the end, they can find the final location."
Grand Prize info
Aune said a MPS member put forward the $250 cash prize.
He described the challenge coin that the winner will also receive.
"The challenge coin is not new to us. We actually have one for our police service, and we have one for our canine unit. They're specialty coins that were made up, and it follows an old military tradition of representing your unit when you're out in public. It was for specialized units to meet and greet other people, that kind of thing. We've had them done up, so it's a special coin that symbolizes our service."
Related stories:
- Younger folks may drink and drive less, speculates Morden Inspector ahead of long weekend
- ‘We blinked 4 times and 25 years went by’: Morden Fire’s mission to update a city staple
People are really engaging with the fun
He said the MPS members are always trying to think of ways to involve the community in a positive way.
"Obviously, these members are involved in other good deeds and stuff that our office is a part of, but they're always thinking about things that could get us positive interactions with the community and something that's kind of fun and family-oriented. Since we've started this, we've already accumulated 42,000 views, and that's a big deal for us. That's more than our social media has gotten to this point."
There is another motive behind the fun.
"We use our social media to educate the public. That's part of what we want to do. And so if we have more followers, that means not only are they going to play this game and have a good time with us, but they'll also stick around hopefully, and then see some of our safety messages we have, and the education parts that we do through it." - MPS Inspector Sean Aune
Aune is pleased with the level of participation and can already see the results MPS hoped for.
"We've had everything from young kids playing with their parents to mid-age people doing this. So, obviously, it caught on really quickly because it's our first time. We didn't know how it would go. So we're really, really happy with these results and the attention it's getting us. The more people that participate, the merrier. It's just great to see another positive community interaction."
Start following the clues today on Morden Police Service social media page!