A row of lockers at Brick Township High School. (Photo: Daniel Nee)
Brick police will join departments throughout the nation in stepping up patrols near township schools in response to a nationwide trend of users on the social media platform TikTok, sharing posts that threaten violent acts at schools Dec. 17, including shootings and bomb scares.
The Chinese-owned social media platform, owned by ByteDance with investments from Chinese government-linked institutions, put out its own statement Thursday.
“We handle even rumored threats with utmost seriousness, which is why we’re working with law enforcement to look into warnings about potential violence at schools even though we have not found evidence of such threats originating or spreading via TikTok,” the company said in a Tweet.
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Bloomberg reported that generally, the threats “don’t name specific schools and local authorities have said many of lack credibility.”
Brick police said they would step up patrols near schools Friday, but there were no specific threats relevant to Brick schools.
“The Brick Police department is aware of a generic nationwide message circulating on social media regarding a threat on schools for December 17th,” the department said in a statement. “There is no known credible threat to any Brick Township schools. We have been in contact with school officials and will continue to monitor the situation. As a precaution patrols of schools will be increased.”
Police reminded parents to “speak to their children about always reporting any suspicious activity to school staff, the police or you.”
The Brick school district uses the “WeTip” anonymous tip program if students wish to make a report of a threat. Brick police said the state’s Office of Homeland Security as well as the Regional Operations and Intelligence Center, run by the state police, are monitoring the proliferation of such threats.
