It has come to the attention of the Richwood Police Department and North Union Local Schools that there are several students at surrounding schools posting nude photos to twitter accounts. Chief Asher and Superintendent Dr. Rick Smith asks that all parents be aware of this and to speak with your children about the dangers of posting these types of photos to twitter and other social media and any other person or website. In addition to the nude photos students are also posting on “confessional “accounts. The process starts when a student at a particular school creates a Twitter account, then begins sending out “tweets” – 140 character messages punctuated by hash tags (#) and “at” symbols (@) to draw searches and participation from the other account holders. Before long, fellow students are tweeting their own messages. This doesn’t end with explicitly sexual commentary. Some post are decidedly threatening, implying aggressive criminal acts, either real or imagined. Perhaps the worst offenses are bold attacks against other students – cyber-bullying of this kind is known to culminate in physical violence or even suicide. The mere nature of social media makes it impossible to control by school officials. While Twitter, Facebook and other social media pursue and block such accounts, they can’t get to everyone. It’s up to the parents to police their children’s activities and it’s up to the students themselves to exercise prudence and self-restraint.

If you have evidence of this type of behavior please contact the Richwood Police Department

Lt. M. Ballinger
Office: 740-943-2422