MARTINSVILLE, Va. (WFXR) – The Martinsville Police Department and Henry County Sheriff’s Office teamed up on Thursday to deal with another fake threat to school safety posted online.
The threat was posted in the early morning hours on Thursday and soon reported to law enforcement, who quickly realized that the image was not an original and did not seem specific to the area.
“It was quickly determined that the image was not an original,” said Martinsville Chief of Police Robert Fincher. “It actually first appeared over a year ago and is not from this area.”
Fincher believes that the image has been found in various school districts around Virginia and is being altered to include the names of different schools or school districts.
Even though the threat was deemed illegitimate, panic began around the area.
“It became this widespread panic and there was really nothing specific to this area,” said Fincher.
Reports of the image were widely shared via social media, with the truth becoming more distorted as the day went on.
“Social media hurt us today,” said T.J. Slaughter, director of safety for Martinsville City Public Schools. “Nationwide this is becoming a problem and we’ve got to start learning how to deal with these threats.”
Law enforcement said that most kids did what they were supposed to do by reporting what they saw to the police.
It was parents who continued to spread what they had heard about the image.
“Once one parent found it, then they posted it out to another parent and it just becomes a vicious cycle,” said Slaughter.
The constant discourse and sharing made the job of law enforcement and school officials more difficult as they worked to both get to the bottom of the original image while also trying to control misinformation and panic.
The event also raised questions over the broader issue of how often fake threats are posted online.
“It de-sensitizes the actual potentially real threat,” said Fincher. “It’s kind of the whole thing about crying wolf.”
Fincher reiterated that law enforcement does thoroughly investigate every threat, including those deemed fake.
School officials also urged parents to speak with their kids about what is and is not acceptable online behavior and reminded them to report anything suspicious to law enforcement instead of reposting or sharing it.
