The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

A HIGH ranking Royal Bahamas Police Force official is appealing to social media users to refrain from uploading pictures and videos of murder victims to the Internet, noting an increase of such postings in recent times.

Central Detective Unit Superintendent Paul Rolle said yesterday that a major concern for law enforcement was the “insensitivity” of persons who hastily post gruesome photos and live video to Facebook and Twitter, many times before authorities arrive to the scene of an incident.

In fact, Mr Rolle said, because investigators have had to combat this so often, the RBPF has taken additional steps to secure crime scenes through the purchase of tarps that act as privacy screens.

He spoke to reporters just after National Security Minister Dr Bernard Nottage opened a two-day workshop at Police Headquarters on East Street that aims to develop a National Cyber Crimes Strategy.

“There is a concern,” Mr Rolle said, “I wish to appeal to persons who would choose to do that to desist from doing that. And to show some level of sensitivity to the victim’s family. I think in recent times we have seen quite a bit of that.

“Persons get on these scenes prior to the police’s arrival and are taking photographs and videos and are posting them. I think it is very sickening and insensitive. I would ask persons not to do that and to show some respect to the family who have to grieve.

“One of the things that I have done was purchase those tents. The whole idea about investigating these murders it’s not a pleasant task and although we put our barriers up, there are cameras that are telephotos that can pick up for some distance. We try to allow the officers to work without prying eyes. The blue tarp is to give us some protection.”

While Mr Rolle said there were some provisions in law to deal with the issue, he suggested that the government should consider implementing other penalties to dissuade distasteful Internet uploads.

He added that authorities have also found that murder victims are stripped of their possessions before police can assess crime scenes.

“What we have seen in recent times is a level of insensitivity. Persons are being killed and unscrupulous individuals within the community are relieving them of their property. That is something that we need to have a conversation about. If you want to talk about the moral issue you have a dead man and people are going and searching him. (They) take his money, his jewellery (and) his watch before the police arrive on the scene,” Mr Rolle said.