Last Monday (March 6), a Facebook post from Kindersley RCMP went viral.

The post cautioned you about automatically sharing social media posts about missing people, saying sometimes people aren't actually missing but in hiding for their safety, and sharing posts can put them in danger. The post concludes by saying missing people alerts should only be shared if they come from a reliable source

Cst. Jennifer Weedmark with Airdrie RCMP agreed with her colleagues in Saskatchewan.

"It's definitely helpful to any investigation, it's helpful to most causes. It is important, however, to make sure that the source you are sharing it from is a reliable source."

Cst. Weedmark said that while the public's tips are often crucial to investigations, sharing information that the RCMP hasn't issued can lead to confusion.

"We've had it that there is false reporting, because of this, of missing children or very young youth that were not even accurate, weren't even the same person or the correct age or gender. Because of this, it puts the community on alert and it startles people."

Besides confusion, having inaccurate information about an ongoing investigation circulating on social media can actually hinder investigators.

"When false information is passed on out there, it can generate false tips because the information isn't correct and it kinda just ends up putting us in a bit of a situation where we are wasting resources and time on possibly false tips."

Cst. Weedmark said the best source for information about investigations and missing persons is the RCMP itself, or reputable news outlets.

 

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