Parents’ Beloved Back-to-School Posts Of Their Kids Could Put Them In Danger, Police Warn

As the school year for children across the country begins, police in New York are warning that many parents' tradition of taking back-to-school photos could be putting their kids in danger.

The Saratoga Springs Police Department, in upstate N.Y., took a creative approach to warn parents about possible dangers of the back-to-school tradition, posted photos of one of their officers on Facebook, as many parents often do, mimicking a first-day photo.

"Next week many of you will be taking first day of school pictures and posting them. As you do so, please think about what you are sharing online," the post said, showing a public version of the photo next to one for friends and family.

Parents are warned to not share too many personal details in their posts or pictures, such as the child's school name, classroom or grade.

The warning is that "predators, scammers and other people" could use details like this to endanger a child, the wider family or exploit finances.

"No matter your privacy settings or friends list, its best to keep personal information on the internet to the bare minimum," the post added.

Another department in Huber Heights, Ohio, issued a similar warning. It said predators could turn up to events like sports practices if that info is somehow contained in a seemingly innocent social media post.

Internet safety campaigners "Enough is Enough" encourage parents and grandparents to keep details as vague as possible when celebrating a child's achievements online.

“We have the best of intentions, but not everybody who sees these pictures and these posts and these videos will have the best of intention, so we've got to really guard against, the bad actors online,” Donna Rice Hughes, President and CEO, told USA TODAY.

“As a general rule, don't share any what we call personally identifiable information.”