Newsroom
A mother has turned to a media outlet to complaint against the police, saying an officer discouraged her from filing a complaint against an obscene caller who targeted her pre-teen daughter.
According to Reporter, a woman went with her 12-year-old daughter to a local police station to report an unidentified man who made indecent propositions to her daughter. She alleged that her daughter received a phone call from an unknown male, who tracked her down through Instagram.
“My daughter placed the call on loudspeaker and I could listen in on her conversation with the unknown man,” the mother told Reporter.
“He told the child that if she would agree to do whatever he asked of her, then he would give her money and he was trying to persuade her to do it,” she added.
When the mother told the police officer and provided the phone number of the unidentified called, according to Reporter, the male cop “not only did he not encourage them to file a complaint, but he discouraged them from doing so, telling them they were looking for trouble.”
The police officer looked up the phone number and proceeded to call the man to give him a warning
The police officer, who looked up the phone number and found a match, reportedly shared the suspect’s name and age with the mother, but proceeded to call him to give him a warning.
But the woman also told Reporter that the police officer had disclosed the country of origin of the little girl during the phone call warning, suggesting her daughter could be further targeted more easily.
“Now he knows the full name, how she looks like, and also where the child is from, and this could prompt him to search for her at school to take revenge,” the mother told Reporter.
The police officer told the mother they should not file a complaint because the daughter was a minor and the law did not allow underage persons to have social media accounts online, according to the mother who recounted her interaction with the officer.
According to Reporter, the child shares access to her Instagram account with her parents, with whom she has a very good relationship, citing the fact that the girl immediately told her mom that she was getting a call from someone she did not know.
The parents of the young girl are reportedly contemplating their options for a possible course of action.
No information was immediately available of any complaint filed with authorities, either regarding the alleged incident or about a visit to a local station. Police told Knews an officer was looking into the report.
