PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Philadelphia police say someone posted false information on Facebook identifying a city man as the Kensington Strangler. Now, police want to get the word out to protect the man from vigilante justice.
Police Lieutenant Ray Evers says police found out about the Facebook posting mid-Monday morning. The fan page had a photo of a man and his address. “This fan page was saying this man was the Kensington Strangler. Looking at this picture, we notified Homicide and Special Victims and they said, no this male is not a subject in this investigation and is not wanted in this investigation.”
Evers says the man was at his mother’s home and people were gathering outside, so he called police to tell them it wasn’t him. The man was then escorted by 25th District Police to Special Victims where he was interviewed, and cleared, and then he was taken to Homicide. “We utilized our own Facebook page, and it was our duty to say that this male was not wanted, was not a subject of our investigation.”
Evers says Facebook is a social network; it is not a fact checking site, and this can be damaging to innocent people.
It’s only a matter of time. Welcome to New America.
Certainly the fool who posted this item could/should be charged with some kind of crime? While the idiot is subject to civil liability, that is not enough. Posting the picture might even be a public service. Claiming it is a particular person and giving the address of that person is an incitement to murder.
Or is it just a Stupid/Freedom of Speech Eight Ball?
The disturbing difference between this and Joseph McCarthy is that Joseph McCarthy was targeting a specific ideology with made up material.
This new vigilance movement characterized by see something say something is so broad that it is much more dangerous because in many ways it is open for everyone to participate with their own agenda. Why accuse someone of being a communist when you have see something say something? You can custom tailor your accusations to fit the perp. Now the Stasi has so many choices, child molester, terrorist, drug dealer, crackpot, and buzz kill.
Obama and Holder desperately want to find someone in America who they can blame for terrorism, as long as the person is not a Muslim.
http://qando.net/?p=10059
Bobbo, et al : Calm down. He may not be the Kensington Strangler but he’s probably guilty of SOMEthing. After all, he’s black. And I’d be willing to bet he has a hoodie somewhere.
This could be fun
Well, at least its not “this” bad:
If you go back about 6 months to when people where trying to hunt down the girl that drowned a dog, I said it was a only a mater of time until one of this online mobs kills the wrong person.
He looks a bit criminalish. Just to be safe he should be lightly tased.
I have to hand it to the “Authorities That Wanna Be”™® for this brilliant attack on our “freedom of speech.”
By inciting various morons out there to “shout fire in a crowded theater” they are discrediting the value of free speech.
Janet Napolitano is a mass enabler of paranoid America.
With this “tattletale justice” inciting the weak-minded (those on the lower side of the bell curve) to take up arms against the innocents, we’re going to see a decline of the traditional Republican support because they’ll have shot each other.
More worrisome will be what will happen to the rest of us (those on the upper side of the bell curve,) who will see this used as an excuse to curtail our freedoms.
“If You See Something, Say Something”
Erich Honecker smiles in his grave.
Well it’s like Fox News, spewing misinformation and the audience doesn’t fact check.
Seriously, what did these fools think was going to happen when they announced this moronic “See Something, Say Something” thing??
On the other hand, I wish we had something like that in Australia as my neighbour has really been pissing me off lately….
It can and will get worse. Teachers already know that anybody that wants to get them have a sure fire way to do it and even if they are cleared you aren’t really cleared. A lot of people are in the NEA for the insurance.
Parents and Guardians are not in the clear either. If a teacher sees something that they suspect _might_ be abuse they are required under penalty of law to report it directly to Human Services.
They can’t just contact the school councilor or Principal and let them do some checking first.
Of course if some kid tells you that they have to sleep with their father because mother is working second shift or you can see the sole print of a shoe on the side of their face you don’t feel bad about making the report but a heck of a lot of kids show up with bruises some of them fairly often and unless you start asking personal questions you don’t have a clue what happened.
My cousin’s kid had a lot of injuries but the splinter in the foot came from the porch, the next foot injury came from metal cleats on another kid, sliding into a base, etc., etc., but if I hadn’t had a clue how X was constantly getting hurt and keeping bruises I’d have almost certainly reported the case.
If you haven’t figured it out X is Mama’s only spoiled rotten jock kid and a favorite of granny. Abused she isn’t.
Is this an enhanced FB feature?
It happened in the UK already.
A tabloid newspaper printed the names and addresses of pedophiles and unfortunately also a pediatrician.
Guess whose house got burned down
Remember when you use to see something and you just STFU?
Those were The Good Ol’ Days.™®
# 10 msbpodcast said, “Janet Napolitano is a mass enabler of paranoid America.”
“Janet Napolitano is a mass.” Fixed.
But… I thought Obama was going to bring us all together! Well, I guess he did! Against this guy…
Teabagger hysteria. Just like the Salem witch hunts
i live in Philly and the hysteria over the “Kenzington Strangler” is getting out of hand. I’ve read several reports with investigators quoted saying a couple of these crimes are related, but there’s a good chance they are not all done by one guy.
But the local media is hyping the ‘Strangler’ idea because it makes people freak out.
Hey, if i lived in the Kenzington section of the city, i would probably want to strangle people, too.
BTW, walking the streets here, i’ve seen about 100 guys that resemble that drawing! I guess i should be ‘seeing something, saying something’ on every one of these people…
before i get arrested for NOT doing it.
#20 – the salem witch trials weren’t hysteria, they were very logical.
The property of anybody convicted of being a witch (unlike other crimes) went to the prosecutors.
Imagine if the TSA got to keep anything they confiscated from you.
# 22 nobody – Imagine if the TSA got to keep anything they confiscated from you.
They can keep my water. It’s full of backwash, anyways.
Brian (#21) said: “BTW, walking the streets here, i’ve seen about 100 guys that resemble that drawing!”
How do you know they aren’t all in on it? You know, roaming the streets at night in huge gangs looking for their next victim.
My god man, get the fuck out of there. It sounds like Kensington is a breeding ground for serial killers.
# 24 msbpodcast said, “How do you know they aren’t all in on it?”
Good point. Could be a whole new type of serial killers.
And yet again I get to gloat proudly that I have never so much as looked at Facebook.
This story reaffirms my opinion of the people Facebook attracts, not to mention the general mentality of Americans these days.
When did we become so easily seduced by hype and bullsh*t?
Besides, if you want to see subversive activity, all you need to do is tune in CSPAN.
Will you also be posting the “See something say something” SUCCESSES? Or is your website going to be the same old constant negative drivel?