JEFFERSON COUNTY, Mo. – The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office encourages residents to be aware of what they’re sharing on social media.
One recent post showed the photographs of a couple and stated “ATTENTION” before encouraging anyone reading the post to lock their doors securely because the dangerous couple murdered three police officers and has a history of committing a long list of crimes, including child abductions and carjackings.
“What we want everybody to know these posts are absolutely false,” Grant Bissell, public safety coordinator for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, said.
FOX 2 reported on a warning the department issued in February. Last week, another false post led to another warning. The most recent post, surfacing this week, appeared to come from a group posing as a Jefferson County buy, sell and trade group.
“A lot of these posts were made by similar posters,” Bissell said. “I saw a post was made by the same person or people over and over in these groups all over the country.”
He asks residents to do an online search or even contact their local police department if they’re not sure about a social media post. Bissell acknowledged the law makes it difficult to hold anyone responsible for posting false information.
“For there to be a crime, there has to be a victim,” he said.
Andrea McNairy, managing attorney with the Brown & Crouppen Law Firm, agrees She said an exception would be making a false report to police.
“That can lead to civil and criminal penalties,” she said.
In some cases, McNairy said civil action can be taken if the posts result in defamation.
Some residents hope more can be done to curb the amount of fake posts making inflammatory claims.
“They’re causing panic with everybody,” Dayna Alexander, Jefferson County resident, said. “They need to stop.”
Anyone who sees a fake social media post is reminded not to share them. Social media platforms have methods for users to report false information so it can be removed. If a fake post is related to a scam or fraud, it can be reported to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ice3.gov.