Police Officer Harassing Me on Facebook

[lightblue]

My question involves police conduct in the State of: KY

Hello,

About two months ago I got into some trouble with the law, I went to court and plead guilty to the charges and I am now on probation. However the arresting officer has Facebooked me over 4 times in the past 2 months, he says things like " If you want me to help make it easier u need to talk to me" "your time is running short." Hes also messaged me that my co-defendant has told on me and that he has sworn statements and I need to help him or I am going back to jail.

As of right now I am going to court for a previous warrant that was written before I was arrested for the above. Eventhough my case that the arresting officer arrested me for has already been settled, he still wont leave me alone and he continues to message me and he even tried to add me on Facebook too. I am a young female and I have never been in trouble prier to this. I haven't messaged him anything back and I ofcourse did not accept his friend request. Are police officers allowed to do this? Isn't this harassment? Or police misconduct? I don't have money to hire a lawyer, right now I have a PD, should I tell him about this police officer? I have no idea what to do? Please help me. Thanks.

[PolkaDotPanda]

You know you can block people on Facebook, don't you? Go to this guy's profile and block him. Or set your privacy filter to "friends only". That way, no one will be able to make any contact with you or even see what's on your wall unless they're an approved friend. Also, report him to Facebook for harassment. No need to tell the story of WHY you're reporting him -- just report him.

To block him, go to his profile, look over on the right side of his profile page for the "Message" button; click on the downward pointing triangle. "Report/Block" is at the very bottom of the drop down menu.

[PTPD22]

Well, you are kinda light on the details of WHY this cop is trying to get you to talk to him (what/who he is investigating). So, I am not going to jump to any conclusions. However, a point or two about you post does give me some pause about your credibility. For example, your statement of:

I have never been in trouble prier to this.

is pretty questionable when this statement:

About two months ago I got into some trouble with the law, I went to court and plead guilty to the charges and I am now on probation.

is followed by this one:

As of right now I am going to court for a previous warrant that was written before I was arrested for the above.

That statement, by definition, means you have "been in trouble" at least once before your most recent incident.

Nonetheless, this does not seem like appropriate investigative conduct for a police officer...especially for a male cop (you refer to him as "him") investigating a "young female." Even if both his intentions and conduct are totally professional and legitimate, the possible appearance of impropriety is inappropriate (in my opinion). In addition to blocking him on facebook, I would advise filing a complaint with his department. Without more detail, I am not prepared to go as far as saying his conduct constitutes either harassment or misconduct. However, the potential for his actions to be misconstrued or to provide the appearance of misconduct is too great (again, in my opinion) to be ignored and he needs to be reigned in.

[cdwjava]

Do the police have your phone number? Your address?

If they have no other means to contact you, then attempting to make contact on Facebook would be innovative, I would say.

If he is contacting you through a PERSONAL Facebook account of his, then I'd have to agree with PTPD22 that this has the appearance of impropriety. If through a department Facebook account, then less likely so.

[lightblue]

Sorry I understand why my statements sound confusing. I was meaning the first incident I talked about was the first time I had been in trouble and yes you're right this now makes the second time of me being in trouble. The officer has contacted me on his personal site and I am sure if he wanted to he could find where I live or get my phone number or something, I think hes doing it over Facebook so no one will find out, hes even said things like "talk to me and ill help you on your charges and no one will have to know" I feel like his behavior is crooked, and also threatening, I don't want to make the situation any worse for myself but I feel should do something about his actions.


My profile is private, however the reason I didn't block him was to see what he had to say to me.
One last thing that was very odd to me, he messaged me early one day, telling me I needed to talk to him if I wanted him to help me and so on, I never replied and then I got on my facebook later that night, and someone posted a status update as me on my facebook that read " stop it it was me stupid" I did not write this status, however my facebook had not been hacked, as in my password hadn't been changed or anything, could he have hacked my facebook somehow without changing my password at all? I don't want to be paranoid but I can't come up with any other conclusions then him somehow getting on my facebook and writing that to make it look like I was guilty or that was my reply to him? I feel like I have a crooked cop on my hands.

[PTPD22]

I feel like I have a crooked cop on my hands.

Like I said, from your account, his actions give the appearance of being inappropriate. Print out all the posts, messages, etc. that you have and file a complaint with his agency. Go down to the police department and ask to speak with a supervisor or detective assigned to investigate police misconduct.