Springing into Action
Hello Everyone, I hope you're all doing well although I'm very aware, the wild weather that has been happening in all parts of the world has caused many problems. Although we are allegedly heading into Spring here in the Northern Hemisphere, it seems we are soon to be in the grip of the 'Beast from the East', which is the somewhat theatrical way the weather experts have of announcing an onset of icy weather. Along with the cost of living crisis and the fresh fruit and vegetable shortages, it's not exactly party time here. Naturally, for some, the idea of hibernating does hold tremendous appeal, hiding away until the worst is over but rather than starting to fashion my own 'cave', I've been busily working on my latest novel.
Now, I know what you're thinking, the rest of this post is going to be a shameless advertisement for this new book, but you would be wrong. Firstly, as it is still very much a work in progress, I think it would be very premature to be giving hints about the plot - especially as key parts have been repeatedly changed and might well be again. But also, because, I have another subject I want to talk about today and is far more relevant to the title of this post.
In the UK, there has been a case of a mother who disappeared while walking her dog, after dropping her children off at school. Her day started probably like many others, in fact, according to police reports, she had texted a friend about organising a playdate for their children only a very short time before she went missing. I think it's fair to say, everyone was completely stunned by this story, mainly because of how 'ordinary' the circumstances appeared and, the vast majority of people kept the family in their thoughts and hoped for a happy ending. Unfortunately, however, there were a minority who chose a different path and- without a single law enforcement qualification between them- took it upon themselves to try and solve the case.
What followed was nothing less than a heady combination of plain foolishness, baseless arrogance and reckless disregard for observing the law. Rather than allowing the police to get on with their job, groups of people started trying to search for clues, trampling over the scene and the surrounding area in the misguided belief that watching a few episodes of CSI made them experts. As happens, their alleged theories were then posted all over social media, often accompanied by rather wobbly footage captured on smartphones that were uploaded as soon as possible. In one location, there were so many amateur detectives, the police were forced to issue a dispersal order. Now, I have to say, there has been criticism levelled at the police for their overall handling of the case and, at the time of writing, I believe an enquiry is underway. But I think it's fair to mention, having busloads of people who have nothing better to do than imagine they're in an Agatha Christie novel all over the area, couldn't have helped with the official police work.
Bad as this sounds, tragically worse was to come, when the mother was found deceased, on seeing police activity, one of these people allegedly stalked across a field and filmed the officers retrieving the body and then gleefully posted the film on TikTok! When they were criticised, the reasoning was simply that it was felt people wanted to see it obviously showing an appalling lack of taste or even the barest amount of consideration for the victim's family- naturally all the money that was earned by this individual was apparently 'not a consideration.' I can't really comment on that remark as it would be mere speculation on my part but generally speaking, attempting to make a profit out of someone else's grief is questionable at best.
But what of the others who decided to get involved? The argument from some seems to be they were so moved by the disappearance, they felt compelled to act by going to the location. Were they just being community minded? Did they spring into action when they heard the call? Speaking for myself, I think it's possible some were genuine but as to why they didn't contact the police to ask how best to help, remains a complete mystery to me. As for 'hearing the call', from what I understand, the police did involve local people in the search, as obviously they would have an intimate knowledge of the area and could be deployed and supervised by trained officers. What the police did not do, was invite the entire crime-loving population of the UK to descend on a relatively small town!
This case is obviously a tragedy, the family of the victim must be distraught and all our hearts go out to them. But I think it has brought attention to the growing idea that everyone has some kind of 'right' to be involved in everything regardless of what damage they might do. I would hope those who were so quick to put themselves in the middle of a situation where they had absolutely no reason to be, might take a moment to think. Sadly, I do suspect, some people were motivated by the possibility of making some easy money, perhaps by selling their 'discoveries' to the media. If that is true, they should do far more than think and perhaps even face legal action.
Finally, I think we all believe we understand social media and the power it can wield, to be honest, I'm really not sure we do. So perhaps we all need to be constantly mindful of our behaviour and apply the same standards to our online lives as we do in reality.
Anyway, that's more than enough from me, thank you all for your kindness and support, as communities go, I am inordinately blessed to be a part of this one.
Take good care out there xx
