Twitter is rife with crude jokes — but Miami police say a teenager crossed the line when he tweeted the department that “I’m bout to rape a lil girl.”
“You guys I’ve been out here taking little girls and I hear no sirens? Um my avi doesn’t scare you?” the user @5kurrr wrote to Miami’s Twitter page, @MiamiPD.
Cops were not amused. The 15-year-old Miramar boy was arrested and charged with making a false police report, a first-degree misdemeanor, police said Friday.
via Twitter rape joke to Miami police leads to Miramar teen’s arrest – Miami-Dade – MiamiHerald.com.
Here is a copy of the complaint/arrest affidavit. My question: Is there a legal basis or guidelines in which a police department decides which Twitter post is a report? I can see it as evidence, but as the actual definition of police report? I see it as a ripe and fertile space for abuse but I might be wrong.
In any case, I leave the forum open to those who may have an answer. Until I have a clear answer, I am not planning on Twetting, Facebooking or doing initiating any kind of content with a Law Enforcement agency via Social Media. You never know how it will be treated.
And yes, the little jackass was a jackass and you just don’t play stupid games with stuff like that.
Knowingly communicating false information about an alleged crime to any law enforcement officer constitutes a false report.
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0800-0899/0837/Sections/0837.05.html
The young fella is probably lucky he didn’t get charged with a felony.
My first thought was “play stupid games, win stupid prizes”. I think taunting the cops like that goes beyond stupid and possibly into felony territory. Especially considering the subject was the rape of little girls. The coppers can’t ignore something like that in case it’s true. Think of the backlash if it had been true and they didn’t act? Maybe they will break his tweeter.
My fear is that ANY interaction via Social Media could be considered a “Police Report” or any other violation of the law they may see fit at the whim of the cops without clear guidelines. The possibility for abuse seems wide open:”Dear MiamiPD you all suck and kiss my ass” may tick somebody off and suddenly you are charged.
Or a 0300 visit from the SWAT team.
Not really logical to gain such a fear of general social media activity being seen as a “police report”, when the incident in question was of a person specifically tweeting to the police department that he was going to perform an illegal activity.
I left my phone unattended officer. I was lucky to find it…