It's that time of year when social media is flooded with adorable images of children heading back to school, proudly holding up signs with all sorts of details on them, including their names, ages, teachers, schools and future careers. But police are issuing an important warning to excited and proud parents who choose to share these images on their social media pages.
These school signs often contain too much information that could be used by sex offenders and scammers, Brookline police say. This includes the child's full name, the name of their school, their grade and age, as well as other information that could be used to commit a crime.
“Everyone wants to share these cute pictures and we want to see them,” says Sergeant Rob in the video posted on X (formerly Twitter). “But there are ways to do that while maintaining privacy and security.”
Parents can, for example, leave out their child's last name and the name of the school. According to the police, this is a big problem.
Police in Ashland, Massachusetts, and East Hartford, Connecticut, have issued similar warnings.
Parents should remember to keep the information simple, the police advise: “Less is more.”
Parents can also increase safety by, for example, changing privacy settings on social media so that only family, friends and people they trust can see the images.
As always, it is safest to keep personal information to a minimum – regardless of privacy settings
Police also warn against using hashtags or registering at school on your child's first day.
“With these simple safety tips, we will have a great school year.”
