Police warn parents about “stranger danger” as kids go back to school

[NHGF [Feed]]

iStock.com/Kalinovskiy As kids get ready to go back to school, law enforcement is offering some words of caution to parents regarding social media use. Jeff Zwicky a Rothschild Police Officer and School Resource Officer for the D.C. Everest School District, warned parents who may be tempted to post photos of their child on social media. “We really want to be cautious, take an extra step back and just think what are we posting? Who are we posting it to?” Zwicky said. Every year, social media is filled with photos of children holding signs with their grade, teacher, and what they want to be when they grow up written on it.  Law enforcement said exposing that information to the public and potential predators could be dangerous “I mean as far as safety concerns, physical safety, it could be a predator that is looking to get a hold of your child and pulling up in a van or meeting them at the bus stop or something like that knowing that they are going back to school,” said Wausau Police Officer and School Resource Officer Neck Stetzer. Officer Zwicky reminded parents that posting on social media should be done smartly. “We never want to post anything with too much information- full names, addresses, exactly where they’re going to be or anything like that. We just want to be cautious,” Zwicky told WAOW 9. Zwicky also reminded teachers about steps they can take to keep their students safe. “Communication is huge. Monitoring if your students have social media accounts monitor as much as you can. Communicate with your students as much as you can. And a friendly reminder about the dangers of social media, stranger danger, so that proactively, you can keep your kids safe,” Zwicky added.