The Regina Sexual Assault Centre put up a Facebook post last week describing an incident involving one of their employees who was allegedly cut off while driving out of town on Arcola Avenue with the driver then yelling at her to get out of her vehicle.
The incident left the young woman terrified.
Regina Police spokesperson Les Parker says that woman did call police to inform them of what happened, but some others don’t as they opt instead to go through social media.
Parker said that is the wrong approach to take if someone is to be taken into custody.
“We get frustrated finding out about these things on Facebook, and then having to hunt down the source of these things,” Parker said. “Especially if they’re public safety related, we need to be involved.”
Parker said there are some incidents that have been put on social media where no contact has been made with them.
“It’s certainly worry-some, we’re very concerned just by the nature of some of these reports, however some of them have yet to be verified,” Parker said. “We do know that there’s reports on Facebook where people have not called into police.”
Parker understands why posts like that are made, but they need to be informed personally.
“They need to call these things into police first and foremost; that would be better than a Facebook warning,” Parker said. “Some of the Facebook warnings that they give people, it’s certainly well-intentioned when they say ‘look out for your own safety,’ and we certainly agree with that, but some of these things need to be verified by police first.”
Parker reminds everyone to be aware of their surroundings at all times and to phone police if they feel their safety is being jeopardized.
