Social media posts thwart underage drinking parties in Upper Darby: Police

Upper Darby police fired off a series of social media posts that may have taken the mischief out of Halloween. Police got wind of a few underage drinking parties planned for Halloween eve and Halloween and decided to scare them straight or sober.

"With tongue and cheek saying we know there's going to be a party and we'll be there we have our costumes," said Superintendent Michael Chitwood. His team came up with the idea knowing lots of teens follow the department on social media. The first tweet reads "We cannot wait for underage drinking costume party at Cobbs tonight. We will be dressed up and ready to go. See you there young people."

"It was a stock photo. I don't even know if it even is a police department but we send it out and it's kind of a mirthful thing. They look at that and say oh my God. They're serious," said Chitwood. Another tweet reads "Bad news. Just heard the underage Halloween drinking party is moving to Marshal Road Field. Good news. We have cars."

And a third and perhaps the funniest reads "We are breaking out some old costumes for the underage Halloween party at Cobbs tonight. Sure to blend in."

"There's a can of Miller Natural Light and it's a Halloween costume," said Chitwood about the picture of a beer attached to the tweet.

We talked to parents about the posts.

"I'm not sure if they knew if there were parties or if they were just putting on a story hoping they would get ahead of the kids," said Frank Burns.

Gina Curry said, "We talk very seriously about tracking our children through social media and if we can prevent tragedy from happening it's effective to me."

Chitwood calls the social media campaign a success. He says nothing happened and no one was arrested either night.

"You try and be light, funny and mirthful. It's not like we're going to send the drones in and take everybody down kind of thing," he said.