Pictures May Be Worth A Thousand Words But How Useful To Crime Investigators?

A nauseating image featuring bloodied pillows and a naked Caucasian man’s body continues to dominate social media. More proof that there’s no accounting for taste. The picture started making the rounds soon after Robert Hathaway’s body was discovered at his Piat, Grand Riviere residence around 1:30p.m. last Sunday afternoon.

The police have often been blamed when pictures of homicide, rape and suicide victims appear on the Internet minutes after the incidents occurred. Also for some of the most grotesque images from road fatalities. A police officer I spoke with in relation to the deceased Hathway assured me the circulated image was taken before the police arrived at his address as a result of a tip-off. He informed me that specific memory cards are used by police photographers, then transferred to non-rewritable disks for purposes of trials.

So who took and disseminated those ghastly pictures of “the first homicide of 2019”—to quote the news presenters, in tones suggestive of some kind of ghoulish award to come!

There is no law to prevent regular people from taking pictures at a crime scene even before they notify the police. “It’s callous and insensitive,” said my police acquaintance. “It indicates a total lack of humanity and selfishness. Imagine a mother discovering, thanks to Whatsapp, that her son’s head was blown to bits shortly after he left home healthy and carefree. In some cases it would be far more useful to render basic First Aid instead of shooting a video.”

He said disseminating videos and pictures of a crime scene can actually interfere with police investigations. He cited the Hathaway incident: “If there was anything at the scene that only the victim and his killer could possibly know about, sending related images all over the world before the police have even seen the body could have serious consequences on the outcome of an investigation.”

At press time the Commissioner of Police Monchery was off-island and unavailable to comment. But from the police press office, this: “Videos of crime in progress can help but videos of crime scenes only make it more difficult for police investigators. It would be wonderful if pictures were submitted only to the police but, more often than not, that is not the case.”