I came across an article today about Amanda Todd, the 15 year old girl who committed suicide in 2012 after nearly two years of extreme cyber-bullying and blackmail. In the article, they release new information about the case and they question whether Amanda's death could have been prevented if the police had investigated the FIVE police reports made throughout the duration of Amanda's harassment.
Carol Todd, the mother of Amanda, reported every incidence of blackmail to the RCMP and in most cases it appears that they did very little to help. After the first report, the police rushed to Amanda's Fathers house to ensure her safety but Amanda reportedly brushed the incidence off, acting as though it was just a joke. Perhaps this is part of the reason why the authorities did not react to the following three reports, thinking that Amanda still considered these jokes? Maybe because she played it off as a joke, the RCMP thought that Carol was over reaction? I wonder if Amanda really thought that the first message was no big deal and that it would not happen again, not thinking of the larger implications. But even if those were the reasons, Amanda thought it was a joke or the police thought Carol was overreacting, Amanda was not 18, isn't the image of a 15 year old flashing the camera considered child porn? Shouldn't the exploitation of a minor garner a bit more of a response from the authorities?
What really caught me off guard as I was reading this was an RCMP's response to Carol's fourth report of blackmail. Not only was it sent a month after the report (which seems incredibly slow to me) but it places the blame and responsibility solely on Amanda.
The RCMP constable's response to Carol's fourth report of blackmail was :
“I would highly recommend that Amanda close all her Facebook and email accounts at this time,” the constable wrote to the then 14-year-old’s mother. “If Amanda does not stay off the internet and/or take steps to protect herself online … there is only so much we as the police can do.”
I think I can understand how somebody would consider this a reasonable response in the same way they see telling women to carry mace and wear anti-rape clothes (discussed by some of my fellow bloggers) is reasonable. It feeds into the beliefs of society at large; don't want to get assaulted? Do things to prevent it/don't do things that will make people harass you, etc etc. It tells women that if they do not practice rape prevention strategies like following the "safety rules" discussed in Campbell's writing "From Thinking to Feeling" they are putting themselves at risk and are therefore to blame.
There are a number of concerns that I have with this, but one of the biggest problems I have is the implication that the responsibility is ultimately Amanda's and that unless she gets off the internet, the police are unable to offer any help. I think they missed the point, the point was not that Amanda was on the internet because she was never actively seeking the blackmailer out, she was trying to lead a normal teenage life after making a mistake and was being essentially stalked via the internet. The point was that a young girl was being exploited and blackmailed and the problem was not being addressed by police.
The RCMP did so little that at one point Carol offers advice on how to apprehend the person blackmailing her daughter, requesting that they take over Amanda's social media accounts and attempt to track or trap the blackmailer as is done routinely in Ontario.
In the article the Ontario Provincial Police's integrated child exploitation unit's provincial strategy co-ordinator, Detective Sergeant Goldschmidt says that the recommendation from the police was an ineffective solution, saying that the blackmailer would have found a way to get back in contact with Amanda. Even if Amanda did delete all of her social media accounts and stayed away from the internet, I imagine the blackmailer would have continued the harassment by sending more photos to people she knew, finding a way to track her just like how she was found after moving schools.
I don't know if Amanda could have been saved, but it is disappointing to see the problematic behaviour of the RCMP as they engaged in Victim Blaming and did not give the reports as much weight as they should have considering her age and the level of torment. The blackmailer was not asking for money, the black mailer was essentially asking for child porn by demanding another show, why was this not addressed more effectively?
I wonder if it is possible that Amanda could have been saved if the police were better trained to effectively handle these situations and somehow prevented from prescribing to the rape myths that perpetuate victim blaming.
Article On Amanda Todd:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/amanda-todd-suicide-rcmp-repeatedly-told-of-blackmailer-s-attempts-1.2427097
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