Law enforcement and how to deal with the problems of social media

People from all different age groups are signing up for these social media sites. For most of the people who are brand new to the social media world, they unfortunately do not know how to keep their profiles "private." Another important factor to people regarding social media is the amount of friends/followers they may have. In this article, I want to discuss the advantages of having a private profile.

When people post pictures and information on their profiles, they think only their followers can see it. That statement is only true if their profile is set to private and their followers are monitored. If people do not have a private profile that means anyone can see everything they have posted to their profile. Some of the things people like to post on their profiles are pictures of family members, friends, electronic items, houses, vehicles, jewelry, occupation, and maybe other expensive items. If your profile is not set to private, would you want random people to know where you live, and the items you keep inside your house? Believe it or not criminals are adapting to the new technologies and trends. This is any easy way for criminals to see how you live your life.

My other recommendation is monitoring the people you add or request to be friends with. A lot of criminals are making "fake profiles" in an attempt to gain access to your social media life. When trying to determine if you should add/accept follower requests, always remember it could be someone completely different than you think. You should not add random people in order to gain a large amount of followers. Some of those random followers could be criminals.

Some criminals use these social media sites to their advantage because they can find out your daily routine. For example, if you post something on your profile stating along the lines of "going out of town for the weekend with the family," this is clearly giving the criminal an invitation to your house because you're stating that nobody will be home during the weekend. Another way criminals can find out your lifestyle is if you post something about work. If you post where you work, pictures, etc., criminals can find out your work schedule by simply hanging out near your course of employment. When criminals have that type of information, they will learn your schedule and know when you are not home. A lot of people think residential burglaries only happen at night. Surprisingly residential burglaries are more common during the daytime due to people being at work and school. It is important to be careful about exactly what it is that you post. Other tips I would recommend is to never take a direct picture of the front of your house and be aware of any background in your house pictures (i.e. street signs, local businesses) that could pinpoint a certain location in the city. This gives criminals a picture of what your house looks like and where it might be located.

Social media is a great thing if used in the right way but unfortunately criminals are always looking for new ways to victimize citizens. The Officers at the Lemoore Police Department have seen social media becoming one of the ways they are doing this. Please be careful when using social media and don't make yourself an easy target. 

If anyone has any information or comments about this article, do not hesitate to contact me or another Lemoore PD Officer. I can be reached by the following:

Phone (Voicemail) – 559-924-6781

Lemoore PD – 559-924-9574

After Hours – 559-924-5333

E-Mail – Jeffrey.Hernandez@lemoorepd.com