Passersby ignore boy eating out of garbage bins in social experiment

Would you help a young boy rummaging through the rubbish?

That is a question New Zealand Police are posing to work out whether someone should be a police officer.  

"If you said you would have stopped, then you may be just the kind of person NZ Police is looking for," New Zealand Police Deputy Chief Executive Public Affairs, Karen Jones, said in a statement. 

She said the police force are recruiting 400 people this year, and they want to attract those who want to make a positive difference. 

"We are looking for people who care about the people in their communities. People who will step in when they see someone who needs helps or is doing something that is unsafe," she added. 

On Facebook, New Zealand Police clarified the boy was the only actor in the video and the reactions of those around him were, sadly, real. It was a 35-minute recording and 500 people saw the boy, but only 10 people stopped to talk to him and offer help.

The social experiment is a new move for the police force, with the hope to attract new, diverse recruits that value empathy.

“Whilst the social experiments involved real people, the majority of their faces have been blurred other than our actor and the people who stopped to take action," Jones said in the statement.

"We did not want to highlight the individuals who walked by, as there may have been very good reasons why someone did not stop to help at that particular time. We hope the segment will encourage conversations about what you would have done."

Do you care enough?

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