"Child Abuser" Post Raises Questions About Law Enforcement and Social Media
By: Marci Manley, KARK 4 News
Updated: February 7, 2013
A post circulating, being posted as recently as this morning on KARK's Facebook page, claims a man suspected of having fled to Arkansas beat a small girl from her head to her feet with a belt.
The post includes pictures of the accused and his alleged victim, and a plea for all to repost so he "doesn't have a place to hide".
The man is behind bars now in Louisiana, having been arrested there near his hometown. Police there say they fielded dozens of phone calls about the Facebook post, the Internet exploded with threats against the man, and questions started cropping up about the child's face being plastered on the World Wide Web.
"I think it's something people may want to think about. There could be information that they are sharing on Facebook that could hurt the investigation by alerting a suspect and allowing them to flee from the area, but it also puts the victim out there. In child abuse cases, we would never release that type of identifying material," said Lt. Kevin Russell of the Benton Police Department.
Russell oversees the Benton Police Department Facebook page and Twitter feeds.
There have been cases where putting information out in a Facebook post has helped solve crimes.
"We were able to make an arrest after we put a news release out on our Facebook that got shared," Russell said. "There was a person who saw it in their newsfeed, and it reminded them of something they had seen that may not have triggered anything if they hadn't come across that just a few hours after the incident. That led to an arrest."
But police want to advise the public to be careful of what they share, so it doesn't jeopardize the integrity of an investigation.
"You know we advise victims or witnesses sometimes that they may want to be careful of releasing information in certain situations," he said. "When it's an ongoing investigation -- we don't want to be caught off guard by them heading to Facebook and accusing someone of this or that."
Police do understand victims and the public can be frustrated with the lengthy process a thorough investigation can require, Russell said. But putting too much information out in the community can mean that when someone is guilty -- they may not be held responsible because they're able to run away or can question the investigation's integrity in court.
The post includes pictures of the accused and his alleged victim, and a plea for all to repost so he "doesn't have a place to hide".
The man is behind bars now in Louisiana, having been arrested there near his hometown. Police there say they fielded dozens of phone calls about the Facebook post, the Internet exploded with threats against the man, and questions started cropping up about the child's face being plastered on the World Wide Web.
"I think it's something people may want to think about. There could be information that they are sharing on Facebook that could hurt the investigation by alerting a suspect and allowing them to flee from the area, but it also puts the victim out there. In child abuse cases, we would never release that type of identifying material," said Lt. Kevin Russell of the Benton Police Department.
Russell oversees the Benton Police Department Facebook page and Twitter feeds.
There have been cases where putting information out in a Facebook post has helped solve crimes.
"We were able to make an arrest after we put a news release out on our Facebook that got shared," Russell said. "There was a person who saw it in their newsfeed, and it reminded them of something they had seen that may not have triggered anything if they hadn't come across that just a few hours after the incident. That led to an arrest."
But police want to advise the public to be careful of what they share, so it doesn't jeopardize the integrity of an investigation.
"You know we advise victims or witnesses sometimes that they may want to be careful of releasing information in certain situations," he said. "When it's an ongoing investigation -- we don't want to be caught off guard by them heading to Facebook and accusing someone of this or that."
Police do understand victims and the public can be frustrated with the lengthy process a thorough investigation can require, Russell said. But putting too much information out in the community can mean that when someone is guilty -- they may not be held responsible because they're able to run away or can question the investigation's integrity in court.
