The Oro Valley Police Department is asking residents who see threats to schools online to report them to the authorities rather than repost them online.
“Re-posting does not help spread anything but fear,” a post on its Facebook page said . “If you see something… say something, tell a parent, school staff or call 911. Re-posting online threats delays the investigation because the detectives have to track down the post you made, instead of seeing the post you saw and going straight to it if you had reported it.”
The post encouraged parents to talk to their students, “and monitor the activity on social media platforms. Encourage them to report concerning posts to you, and then report the post to us.”
The post said most of the threat posts are hoaxes, intended to cause fear and panic, “and re-posting helps accomplish that.”
School districts across Southern Arizona have been plagued with threats over the last two weeks.