HOOVER – People stay busy during the holidays, and with so much going on, Hoover Police do not want residents to fall victims to crime.

Hoover Police Department uses social media to keep residents informed, including posting holiday crime prevention tips to its Facebook page, department spokesman Officer Brian Hale said.

“We use several platforms to communicate including Facebook, Twitter, the police department website, Nextdoor and the MyPD app that citizens can download to their android or iPhone,” Hale said. “We have been using social media for the last several years to help us get information out to the public.”

Residents interested in the tips can “like” Hoover (AL) Police Department on Facebook, scroll through the timeline on the page or visit HooverPD.com, hover over the “Community” tab then click on “Crime Prevention Recommendations.”

“We post many different kinds of prevention tips throughout the year,” Hale said. “However, with the holidays in full swing, there will be a series of posts ranging from ‘safety while shopping’ to ‘online shopping safety’ to ‘at home safety.’

“Instead of not knowing what is going on in the world of criminal current events, we want them to be empowered with solid information that they can use to prevent becoming a victim of a crime. We feel that an informed public is a safer public.”

Tips posted on the HPD Facebook page so far have focused on parking lots/walking to stores (including avoiding shopping along and not parking next to vehicles with dark window tint or other concealment), online shopping (including being cautious of emails claiming to contain pictures in attached files that may contain viruses and logging on directly to the official websites for businesses instead of linking to it from an unsolicited email), and home security (including having a trusted neighbor pick up packages from your doorstep and not displaying holiday gifts where they can be seen from a window or driveway).

Additional tips available at HooverPD.com focus on children and shopping safety and safe driving, and many other topics not necessarily related to the holidays. There are 25 total topics on the website.