WESTFIELD – Police this morning assured parents and the public that the threat made by a student towards other students at South Middle School has been investigated and resolved.
Facebook lit up last night after the Westfield Detective Bureau posted the following statement on its Facebook page around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday night:
“The Westfield Police Department is aware of the Instagram message sent by someone naming middle school students on a list. We are investigating the matter and hope to bring it to a conclusion shortly. If you have any further information please contact Det. Sgt. Stephan K.K. Dickinson at 572-6400. Capt. McCabe”
The post pertains to South Middle School in Westfield.
This morning Westfield Police Capt. Michael McCabe said the post received more than 10,580 hits.
Parents and others posted hundreds of messages on the detective bureau’s page, on the We Love Westfield Community Forum page and elsewhere on Facebook trying to figure out what was going on.
The following update was posted at 11:15 p.m. Tuesday night:
“Update, 11:15 PM…. With absolute certainty, we have identified the source of the message on Instagram. We are absolutely confident that this person poses no threat to any of the students at the South Middle School or to anyone else. No further details are available at this time.”
“No child was ever in danger. We have spoken with the person responsible, this person has taken complete responsibility, understands the ramifications of (his/her) actions and is very sorry it happened,” McCabe said this morning.
Last night, a parent speaking on the condition of anonymity said: “The parents of those listed did get a call from Mr. Baker. He reassured us that the kids felt safe. He said it is their primary concern to make sure the kids felt safe. He said he truly believed they were safe. He said the WPD is looking for resolution to the matter.”
While the detective bureau’s post seemed to incite panic, McCabe said, “The department tries to get information out the best we can.”
In some ways the information that was released created more questions, he added.
“A huge concern of parents is that this threat on Instagram may have been posted several days ago,” one parent told The Westfield News.
McCabe said the Instragram message was posted on Monday.
Another parent said that the list contained only first names of students, which McCabe confirmed this morning.
Another parent speaking on the condition of anonymity said, “The families involved are very happy at this point with SMS and WPD and jumping to assumptions is causing much more harm. No child is knowingly going to placed at risk.”
A robocall was received by SMS parents Tuesday night though some parents were upset by the “vagueness” of the message.
“No one was notified until the students saw it last night. The robocall tonight offered no reassurance of safety or resolution,” one parent said.
The robocall reminded parents that MCAS testing was starting on Wednesday and asked parents to keep their children safe on social media.
“The threat was not very credible,” McCabe said, “but we can’t say why it wasn’t very credible.”
He said the nature of the investigation itself makes it difficult to release information.
“When dealing with juveniles, we must remain confidential,” McCabe said. “When dealing with school matters, we must remain confidential.”
McCabe posted a new lengthier statement this morning to the Detective Bureau’s Facebook page, which begins:
“As a parent with a child in the system and many more nieces, nephews and friends in the system, I am very aware of parental reactions and concerns. I am also aware of FERPA and confidentiality when doing investigations especially as they pertain to juveniles. There are some things that can’t be said during an investigation, and there are only a finite number of resources available to investigate. There has to be a level of trust in this electronic media driven age.”
McCabe’s post continued: “We face the same difficulties when investigating electronic media as investigators face when they are dealing with terrorist acts. Many media sources do not answer subpoenas claiming 1st Amendment protection and others deliberately impede the process by not allowing law enforcement access even when there is a recognized exception to confidentiality when dealing with threatening situations.”
“What I can tell you definitively is that every investigative asset available to us worked on this from the time it came in on Monday evening until its successful conclusion last night. All of the persons involved should be commended for their collective work and focus,” McCabe wrote.
He concluded: “There are no criminal charges pending at this time. We will be conferring with the district attorney’s office on the matter. Officials at both the school department and the South Middle School were appraised of our findings sometime around 5:30 this morning and will be taking whatever action they deem appropriate.
You have my assurances that there is no threat to our children based on this investigation.
Respectfully,
Captain Michael A. McCabe”
McCabe couldn’t say whether the responsible party attended school on Wednesday.
The Hampden District Attorney’s Office did not respond to requests for information by press time.
Staff Writer Christine Charnosky can be reached at [email protected]
Follow me on Twitter @charnoskyWNG
