School districts across Connecticut and in surrounding states have advised parents of concerning social media posts currently being circulated which involve challenging children to post threats in order to get schools closed on Friday, December 17, 2021.
Across the state on Thursday, police departments increased their patrols at schools in response to nationwide TikTok challenge calling on students to make threats on Friday.
Greenwich Police and their law enforcement partners have been tracking this information and, according to Captain Mark Zuccerella, at this time no credible threat to Greenwich schools has been identified.
Googling “Tik Tok Dec 17,” yielded 347 million hits on Thursday, including news stories reporting shooting and bombing threats.
“Social media posts such as these recent ones have been increasing and causing increasing alarm within our community and across the nation,” Zuccerella said. “We take all of these threats seriously and investigate each one. Those found to be reporting false threats are being held criminally responsible.”
Last Thursday police and school district used their limited resources to respond to a disturbing message written on a girls bathroom wall at Greenwich High School. The next day, a 15-year-old girl was arrested and charged with Threatening 1, Criminal Mischief 3, and Breach of Peace. She was referred to Bridgeport Juvenile Court.
“We continue to assess all threats to our community and take appropriate actions in response to them. We also communicate with schools in Greenwich in order to ensure we have a coordinated response to maintain a safe and secure environment for all students and staff,” Zuccerella added. “We encourage parents and guardians to discuss with children the importance of being responsible on social media and the consequences of using it in a manner that threatens others or causes a panic. We ask that anyone that has information on such activity to contact us immediately. Additionally, we urge everyone to be cautious about circulating unconfirmed rumors on social media as this tends to cause unnecessary additional alarm.
Tips may be submitted anonymously to the Greenwich Police Department via phone at (203) 622-3333 or email at [email protected]. These contacts are not monitored 24 hours a day. Reports of potential immediate harm should be reported to Greenwich Police Dispatch at (203) 622-8004 or if an emergency, please dial 9-1-1.
Also, on Thursday Schools superintendent Dr. Toni Jones wrote to parents saying, “It is important for you to know that we have been told there is no specific threat to GPS.”
“We would like to take a moment to remind those families with children on social media that we encourage you to have a discussion about its responsible use, consequences for using it irresponsibly, and the immediate need to report to our staff or Greenwich Police Department if they see something which is out of the ordinary,” she added.
Lastly, Western Middle School principal Gordon Beinstein emailed families to say students are challenging each other to photograph others in the rest rooms.
“The latest trend, thanks again to Tiktok, is taking pictures of others in the bathroom…yes, you read that correctly. So far, it’s been feet from under the stall. While this is NOT ok, you can see how this can quickly escalate into something even more egregious..and illegal!” Beinstein warned.
Beinstein urged parents to talk to their children. Meantime, students are leaving their phones in class when they go to the rest room.