Robert Lowery, vice president of the Missing Children Division at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said his organization also intentionally withholds information indicating a missing person has run away as the term can be very misleading and cause the public to be less vigilant.
Misinformation: Newberry Township Police Chief John Snyder said his department treats every missing-persons report as though it could be extremely dangerous, even if it is someone who is known as a repetitive runaway.
"The first time you dont treat one of those (cases) seriously, it can result in a tragedy, Snyder said.
Though police treat every missing-persons case seriously, officers are often intentionally misled by friends of those who have run away from home, Snyder said. Investigations that are already constrained by limited resources and little information to follow can be compromised by this misinformation, Snyder said.
In his post, Hippensteel sounded off on irresponsible posts on the Missing Madison Krumrine Facebook page that interfered with the investigation and said the false posts continued even after he requested the page stop posting information that was not vetted by police to assure accuracy and maintain the integrity of the investigation.
Unfortunately, the need for this post is a direct result of false and misleading information that was posted, absent police authorization, particularly on the Facebook page Missing Madison Krumrine, Hippensteel wrote. The irresponsible posting by those managing this page caused consternation and numerous baseless tips that wasted countless hours of investigators time.
