A pair of recent police incidents involving substantial response from officers has seen viral misinformation spread through social media. (submitted photos)

By Alex Rawnsley

FACT CHECK

Misinformation spreading during breaking news events delays Nanaimo RCMP response

Aug 29, 2022 | 5:33 AM

NANAIMO — There was no active shooter over the August long weekend and no murder occurred on board a BC Ferries vessel last week.

A handful of recent, high-profile, breaking news events have led to wild speculation on social media, leading to a sensationalized and incorrect version of events being freely shared without fact-checking where the information came from.

Nanaimo RCMP Reserve Cst. Gary O’Brien told NanaimoNewsNOW the spreading of false information is detrimental to their work and does nothing but cause uncertainty in a community.

“We really respect the fact people want to help, but they should take the time to try and find out the correct information before they start spreading it because it can be extremely damaging and it can delay investigation.”

He said people often have their own idea of timelines for when police should address the public and if no information from police is available, false information can spread.

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A single tweet spread like wildfire on social media claiming an active shooter situation in Nanaimo, a rumour which persisted through to the next morning. (NanaimoNewsNOW Illustrations)

During an Aug. 1 incident involving a shooting on the Nanaimo Parkway, a single tweet was shared virally through a large number of social media channels indicating an active shooter situation.

No such situation ever occurred, with the incident stemming from a disagreement between two people and the suspect arrested within 20 minutes.

A Thursday, Aug. 25 police incident on board a BC Ferries ship leaving Duke Point was incorrectly identified as a murder on some social media channels, with one person citing an announcement made by Ferries staff.

Again, the rumour of a murder spread but no such incident occurred with the missing person found hours later.

Speculation of a murder on board BC Ferries ran over social media recently, with some users blindly re-posting what others had shared. (NanaimoNewsNOW Illustrations)

O’Brien said viral misinformation actively prevents police from doing their job.

“They result in a lot of phone calls, delays and we don’t know if the information is correct or not and often we have to follow up on that. That can delay officers getting strategically to positions, repositioning and assessing information in a timely manner.”

He admitted there is some give and take and while he said they are not perfect, detachments endeavour to get accurate information related to public safety out in a timely manner.

“We have an active Twitter account, a Facebook account, direct contact with the local media and we work with the City with the emergency alerts if necessary, but we haven’t had to use that yet,” O’Brien said.

O’Brien called social media an “extremely frustrating and extremely fruitful” tool for investigators, but one where appropriate, factual information needs to be presented.

Editor’s Note: NanaimoNewsNOW devotes considerable time and resources to managing a network of contacts to ensure we’re able to deliver timely public safety information when required.

Should a immediate public safety situation arise, we would report through this website, as well as on local radio stations in Nanaimo and Parksville.

A recent example of this network in action was the February house explosion on Pine St., where our team deployed to the scene, quickly delivered an article online and cut into programming on 106.9 The Wolf and 102.3 The Wave.

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