Central Detective Unit (CDU) Head Superintendent Paul Rolle has said that posting pictures of murder victims is a growing trend in New Providence which the senior officer described as “very insensitive.”
Mr. Rolle was addressing reporters following one of the homicides that took place last week.
“It is a major concern for law enforcement is the insensitivity of people who hastily post gruesome photos and live video to Facebook and Twitter,” he 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 said pictures are often taken many times before authorities arrive to the scene of an incident.
“I wish to appeal to persons who would choose to do that to desist from doing that,” he said.
“We need 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.”
Superintendent Rolle said he has had to take additional measures to decrease the number of pictures being posted to social media sites.
“One of the things that I have done was purchase those tents,” he said.
“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.”
The senior officer did explain however that there are some provisions in law to deal with the issue, but suggested that the government should consider implementing other penalties to dissuade distasteful Internet uploads.
“What we are also finding is that murder victims are stripped of their possessions before police can assess crime scenes,” Superintendent Rolle said.
“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. [Those people] take his money, his jewellery and his watch before the police arrive on the scene.”
