Whitman Facebook threat triggers investigation

The threat to “bomb” the Whitman school was made on the 16-year-old girl’s Facebook page.

“Umm … deffff bombing the school. In newbedford (expletive) killing myselfff,” the teen, who lives in Whitman, posted to her Facebook page.

Two more posts followed, by her friend: “I’m helping you bomb the school…” and “Can I help? And after we’ll do my school.”

Facebook has increasingly replaced bathroom walls as the preferred medium for teenagers to make threats, genuine or not, against teachers, schools and other students.

They are posts that police have to pay attention to, even if they end up being harmless, local police chiefs say.

Whitman Police Chief Christine May-Stafford confirmed Friday that the student was arrested and charged with making a bomb threat.

“The investigating officers interviewed the juvenile, who acknowledged posting the bomb threat but stated she did not mean anything by it,” May-Stafford said. “The department takes all threats of school violence seriously and therefore the juvenile was charged.”

Brockton Police Chief William Conlon agreed with the actions of Whitman police.

“It has to be investigated. It certainly has to be treated as a real threat,” said Conlon. “If we became aware of something like that and didn’t follow up on it and something happened, there’s potential liability.”

Parents, school administrators and others have long warned that it’s important for adults to keep an eye on what kids are up to online.

But the need for vigilance has become more urgent as the number of cases in which children and teens have been charged criminally for what they post on the social networking site has increased.

“We personally do not allow our 12-year-old on Facebook, just for this kind of thing,” said Whitman School Committee member William Egan. “Obviously, parents need to be as vigilant as possible. I think you just have to see what your kids are doing on computers, their text messages.”

Examples abound of using social networking to make threats or issue rants against people, often with legal consequences.

Last week, a 14-year-old girl in St. John’s, Canada, obtained a court order against another girl following Facebook threats that left the girl fearing for her safety. The judge’s ruling contained a no-contact order that included Facebook, according to a CBC News report.

In mid-July, a 15-year old Morristown, N.Y., boy was sentenced to three years probation for threatening to kill someone on Facebook.

In January, two 17-year-old Brookline High School students were charged with making a threat to commit a crime and conspiracy after the father of one of the boys alerted school officials to a series of postings referring to a “mass genocide meeting” at the school.

In the same week, six middle school girls were arrested in Carson City, Nev., after inviting fellow students on Facebook to participate in “Attack a Teacher Day.”

Last October, Whitman-Hanson school officials suspended a soccer player for the remainder of the season for posting threats on Facebook after a game against Duxbury.

Sometimes, the teens involved claim their online postings were meant only as jokes.

But school officials and police say there’s nothing funny about it.

“If it requires a lot of (community) resources, it can be expensive and parents need to be aware that they could be liable for false threats,” said Conlon, the Brockton police chief.

In the Whitman case, the 16-year-old girl – a student at the Compass Alternative High School in Whitman, according to her Facebook page – made the posts, which were then forwarded to local police.

“I became very concerned. It went into the hands of the police,” Superintendent of schools Ruth Gilbert-Whitner said.

The school superintendent said the district is currently revising its social media policy at the high school.

“We get it,” Gilbert-Whitner said. “You’ve got to really pay attention to what’s out there. It’s just exploding in terms of communication. Young people don’t realize how, once you put something out there, it can be found by anybody.”

Maria Papadopoulos may be reached at mpapadopoulos@enterprisenews.com.

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