Social media in dangerous jobs

[TurtleTriplets]

My DP is about to start a new job which will bring him into contact with lots of criminals on a regular basis.

Because of this we decided to really lock down our social media and I had a cull of any people that I don't really know, such as old school friends (from 15 years ago) people met on nights out, people met on holiday and such like.

Dp has made an entirely new profile as there is stuff about his past that he wouldn't want his colleagues or the criminals finding out. He said he would use a fake name and just add family and close friends which is exactly what I now have.

So he has used his distinctive first name and a made up surname, a profile picture of our faces and looking down his friends list, it's just full of randoms. A woman who moved to Australia when they were kids, a bloke who trained in the same gym years ago, a woman he went to school with but hadn't seen since.

I honestly don't know if I am overreacting but he doesn't know these people well so for all he knows they could be associated with gangs or drugs.

(Not as far fetched as it sounds, we are working class in a big city, not middle class in the suburbs)

So I have removed him from my social media because I don't want linking to him as that the provides a link to my children.

I know it's unlikely to ever come to anything but I don't want to have any risk at all.

I don't know if I am being silly?

Generally if you're in a job with criminals or children it's best to stay of social media altogether, they are experts at getting information and using it as a weapon against you or your family.

I must admit, I am in contact with criminals on a daily basis and I am not particularly tight on this. I just don't post anything about my family and have my settings locked down so you'd have to be friends with me to see what I post.
In all the time since Facebook has existed, I've never had any issues.

Obviously, everyone has their own level of comfortable, and I don't know exactly what your DH role is, but that is enough for me.
I can understand why you don't want to be linked to his profile if you want to be able to post more personal stuff.

In my line of work no one has their actual name on SM for safety reasons.

@TurtleTriplets I have yes but it's set on private

And please remember even if FB etc is set on private it’s not that difficult to hack into that why it’s best to have as little as possible or bette r ot bing at all and nothing of your children

I would delete my social media. Bugger locking it down! 🤦🏼‍♀️

That's good advice, I think I will go back through and take anything of them off.

My DP and his DW are in the prison service. Neither has any social media

Is there no guidance regarding a social media presence given by his employer?

Just don't have any social media. He won't spontaneously combust, life will carry on.

I think any actual criminals that would want to intentionally threaten him or your family would probably just follow him home rather than troupes through Facebook trying to figure it all out, no?

but YANBU, if you don’t feel safe.. tell him that. But I think if he is in that much of a dangerous job then a Facebook profile is probably quite far down on the list of concerns.

He hasn't started the training yet so I am hoping he will get advice as part of the training.

His main reason for making a new profile now is incase any of his new colleagues add him during training. There were posts he wouldn't want them to see for personal reasons.

A good rule of thumb: if you're posting stuff you wouldn't want even your colleagues to see then maybe it's best to just pack it in altogether. I get the work and home life are separate but social media's so played-out anyway why bother with that much hassle...

This is true but why would you make it any easier than necessary.
Social media is a risk that he doesn't have to take but is choosing to.

Why didn't you just cull your friends lists and lock down your profiles to everything private?

That is exactly what the post is about. That I have done that and expected the same but he is much more lax with who he thinks is a "friend" than I am.

OCG investigator here.
He's an idiot.

I use very little SM only FB a couple of times a year and MN. Neither of which would identify me even if their servers were hacked. Completely fake name, no profile picture.
No photos on the web
Vehicle reg shielded
Closed electoral role with additional security requirements.

I'm sure there is other stuff but can't remember at the moment .

All sensible stuff.

Corruption and collusion course should cover all this. He will likely do as advised when on his training

I’m guessing prison service. If I’m right, he does need to be more self-aware but if you’re local and he’s working somewhere there’s a quick turn around for release, you also have to be realistic that you may see that person on the out (has happened to me before, although absolutely fine as I always treated them respectfully) so not just social media to be wary of.

I’ve worked civilian and prison officer both in local and HSE establishments.
I have my profiles secure and private, an altered version of my name and a photo where you can’t see my face very well. I don’t have photos of my child in any public domain and went as far to file a privacy report against my mum’s social media (we don’t have a good relationship before anyone thinks I’m just a privacy crazed person!) because she took a photo of my son from my profile and uploaded it as her cover photo.

If he can’t take his social media too seriously then I’d be worried about his attitude towards the job in general (sorry, no dig at you!)