Social media’s intoxication is so pervasive in our lives that there is little escaping it. Recently, in this editorial space, we drew attention to the devastating consequences of rushing to judgment and the impact it has on the lives of those impacted.
While on the last occasion, there appeared to be no malice in the actions of a young woman seeking to assist police officers in their investigations of the prowler in her neighbourhood, she unfortunately plastered the face of an innocent 24-year-old Eden Lodge, St Michael man on social media and upended his life in the process.
The stakes are even higher on this occasion. It involves a Member of Parliament who has been lawfully charged and taken before the court of law, where the matter should take its course and ought to be adjudicated.
The process of charging accused persons is something that occurs almost every day in Barbados with little or no fanfare except for the few court watchers who are attracted to the precincts of judicial offices.
We understand that due to the salacious nature of the allegations that people will want to have their two cents on the issue. This is to be expected. And according to our system, a man is innocent until proven guilty.
What we completely abhor about this particular case is the illegal leaking on social media of the personal information about the complainant in the case, including her name, age, and address. Even more sickening was the release of the victim’s statement to the Barbados Police Service.
Why has there not been a statement of condemnation from the Police Service high command and an assurance that a swift investigation will be launched into how this document, which appears to be authentic, and which has not been refuted by the police, ended up on social media.
What was the point of such distasteful actions? To what end, we ask?
We have no insight into the process of information sharing or handling within the Barbados Police Service, but this is an absolute betrayal of trust by someone who got access to these sensitive records. No complainant in a sexual crime should fear being outed in public in this way when they seek the assistance of the agency that is expected to protect them.
This is not a matter to be taken lightly. Barbados is a small society where everyone knows everyone, and the damage of such disclosures can follow a person for life, given the nature of the digital footprint.
How are women or men, for that matter, to have faith that reports of sex crimes to the police will be treated confidentially. We fear that this incident can have the effect of driving such victims underground and not report such incidents. As a result, some perpetrators may not be held accountable for their actions.
We also highly condemn the online entity that published the crime statement and identity of the complainant, as well as those who shared it. However, law enforcement has a responsibility to find out where the breach occurred.
Just as groups were on the street protesting against the exposure of children to unacceptable questions in the Inter-American Development Bank questionnaire, Barbadians should also be equally indignant of the actions of those involved in this incident.
Too many people in our society are losing faith in institutions and it is not limited to agencies such as law enforcement. With just the click of a keyboard, a person’s life can be completely dismantled by lethal whisper campaigns and attacks on social media.
It is no wonder that thousands of Barbadians are rejecting the new digital identification cards and fear the invasion of their privacy. Citizens are not trusting that people in these institutions will not abuse the access to information that they will have as a result of this digital development.
We have to ask critical questions, like how secure are people’s medical records, for example, or their human resources files in the workplace, or our banking information? Who is protecting us from people with malicious intentions who will take advantage of the access they have to personal and confidential data?
