Saskatchewan RCMP stresses social media, road safety for back to school

Grandma and Grandpa love seeing back-to-school photos, but so do complete strangers.

Staff Sgt. Corey Niedzielski of the White Butte RCMP is advising parents to think twice before posting photos of their children online with potentially harmful information.

“There are people out there that have less-than-sincere interest and that’s the concern. We don’t want to put any of our kids into any kind of a safety risk at all,” he said.

In recent years, it has become a trend among parents and caregivers to snap a picture of their young one posing with a sign on their first day of school.

The sign usually displays the child’s name, age, grade, things they like and sometimes their school name or teacher’s name.

“The concerns surrounding that is it’s a lot of personal information about your child and parents should be asking themselves, ‘Are you comfortable with strangers knowing all these details about your children?’ ” Niedzielski said.

Even information about what your child likes or names of pets could be potentially dangerous, said Niedzielski. That information could be used by a stranger to get to know a child.

Another issue that comes up with those photos is where they are taken. The photos are often shot on the front step of a child’s home or beside a school sign. Niedzielski advises against that to avoid revealing the child’s address or school — the places where they spend a lot of time.

He said parents can still post the photos for their loved ones to see, but be cautious.

“We suggest if you’re going to do such a thing to limit the amount of personal information that’s included on any prop or sign,” he said. “If you are going to be posting these to social media, (we advise) that you regularly review your privacy settings and ensure that you’re comfortable with the audience that may be reviewing your content.”

Niedzielski said most times, people who have bad intentions with the photo or information about children tend to scour the Internet for these specific photos. That’s why the Mounties say posting the photos to social media without being aware of your audience or privacy settings can be very dangerous.

Rules of the road

Niedzielski also reminded everyone who gets behind the wheel about the various school zone rules.

Drivers are reminded to obey school zone speed limits as students go back to class in Saskatchewan on Sept. 5, 2023. (Nicholas Iatropoulos/980 CJME)

“When you’re coming up behind a school bus, (you have) to come to a complete stop when its red lights are flashing. You may proceed only when the lights are stopped and the arm of the bus has gone back in or is disengaged,” he said.

Not only is it important for parents to be aware of school bus safety, but so should children. In Regina, kids had an opportunity to hop on the bus before going to school.

Niedzielski also asked drivers to obey school zone speed limits, as they’re there for a reason. .

“It’s an exciting time of year for a lot of our youngsters and we want to make sure that they can keep going to school,” he said.