Back to school safety: Cranford, NJ cops share social media tip

The excitement of a new year has lots of New Jersey families proudly sharing their now traditional "back to school" photos of students.

Cranford Police have shared a light-hearted photo of their own featuring mascot McGruff the Crime Dog to demonstrate which photos should be kept private and which are safer for social media posting.

In a side by side on the department's official Facebook page Thursday, police labeled one photo with lots of personal information — including the student's name, school, grade level, teacher and other details.

That was labeled as one to save for showing to only "people you trust."

A more generic, "first day of school 2021" — without the student's name — was deemed best for posting to any social media accounts.

While people might think privacy settings are sufficient for protecting their photos, those parameters might fall short of expectations.

On Facebook for example, a user cannot prevent people from saving, downloading and sharing a photo that is made either public or shared with friends, according to the social media website, itself.