We have been reporting on this topic for years and now the Berlin police have also commented on it on Facebook! It's about SHARING private missing person reports! The police write:
Due to current events, we would like to provide information about the spread of private reports of missing persons on the Internet.
In the recent past there has been an increase in private reports of missing persons with calls to spread them on social media. Photos of missing children and information about their disappearance were published.
Be careful: well-intentioned is not always well-done!
So why not share?
Well, sharing private calls can potentially become problematic for both the missing people and those who share them.
Because with a private missing person report it cannot be said with 100% certainty
- The call is real or fake
- The person is currently missing or not
When reporting missing persons, it should also be noted that adults can decide for themselves where they are. It happens that sometimes adults leave their private environment for whatever reason. This is of course tragic for the environment, but does not necessarily lead to a public search on our part.
What dangers can arise from sharing?
If data or photos of a person are distributed who are either not missing at all or who have not given their consent for their photos to be published, this can be expensive for the person sharing.
The phrase “The Internet never forgets anything!” should also be familiar to everyone. Once a photo with a name or personal information has been posted on the Internet, it can no longer be deleted from the virtual world.
An example of what a missing person report with a photo and personal data can trigger: Years ago, a young person who was mentally ill at the time disappeared from an institution in Berlin. There was a risk that she could harm herself. We searched for her publicly with a photo, her full name and information about her illness. Luckily she was found safe and sound and we immediately deleted her personal information from our homepage. It's all ok. Or not?
Unfortunately not. The young woman is now an adult and looking for a job. Potential employers googled her name and came across private missing person reports that still contained her full name and a reference to her previous illness. This makes it much more difficult for her to enter the world of work, and even with a lot of effort, not all private missing person reports can be deleted from the Internet.
We do not publish any personal data of those we are looking for on social media, especially no photos, but only link to our website https://www.berlin.de/polizei/polizeimeldeen/
The personal data of missing people can be deleted immediately from there if the person is no longer considered missing.
Sharing police reports of missing persons is expressly encouraged.
Because in this way they really help, do not spread false reports and are not exposed to any claims for recourse.
Additional information on this topic from mimikama
Facebook users like to play detectives and are therefore on very thin ice. “The media does this too” - you hear that again and again. Many people independently publish and share wanted notices without checking whether they are actually current cases and whether they are acting legally at all! As a “private investigator” you are skating on very thin ice. Many users who privately request people to find a specific person, as well as the users who then share these requests, often do not know that such requests can make them liable to prosecution!
But what makes a private search call punishable? What are you allowed to do and what are you not allowed to do? We have a small list here!
This is what you need to know about private search calls:
- Only law enforcement authorities are allowed to publicly search for people.
- Criminals, not to mention suspects or people who are not even being investigated(!), also have personal rights . Nobody can override this with their own opinion.
- These personal rights may be weakened under very specific circumstances Requirements that only apply in very rare cases.
- Children and young people also have personal rights that may not be violated by private searches (pictures of supposedly wanted children, sick children, etc.).
- Anyone who violates the personal rights of third parties must expect expensive warnings, claims for damages and compensation for pain and suffering and may be committing criminal offenses.
- Parents often search for their missing children privately, even if this is the job of the police and can even hinder the search if the police first investigate in private and thereby warn a possible perpetrator. In addition, these parents should also remember to delete the post later; there is also the risk that the post will simply be copied, meaning that the private search will still be floating around the internet years later!
To be clear: private search calls can lead to criminal liability. It is very likely that at least civil claims will arise.
The police also published the following information:
Well-intentioned is not always well-done: Sharing private calls for missing people on social networks involves a number of pitfalls that can, under certain circumstances, be very problematic for the person sharing the message, but also for the missing person themselves.
We explain to you why:
Is the call real or a fake?
You can't answer this question unless you know the circumstances of the case and the story behind the missing people.
Maybe you fall for a fake and spread the data of a person who is either not missing at all or who has no consent for his photo to be published.
Danger: This can be expensive for you, and you may get to know the supposedly missing person personally in court with claims for recourse.
Is the person currently still missing?
You can't answer this question either. The authors of a private search may remember to report the discovery on their own site, but you will not be informed if you have not shared the request directly from the original site and subscribed to the site. So you shared a post that may no longer be relevant. The personal data of the person who is no longer missing remains on your side, although they would of course have to be deleted.
Danger: This can be expensive for you, and you may get to know the supposedly missing person personally in court with claims for recourse.
What consequences does this have for the missing person?
Once a photo/poster with a name and personal information has been posted on the Internet, it can no longer be removed from the virtual world. The internet never forgets anything!
So a young person who may have “run away” and is desperately searched for privately on the Internet by his concerned relatives is always confronted with his adolescent past. And future employers also scour social media before hiring and try to get information about their new trainee or employee. Although “running away” is not a crime, it at least shows that the young person had some problem in his social environment, which is why he left it. Are you really doing him or her a favor?
Therefore, BE CAREFUL when sharing private missing person searches.
Sharing police calls for missing people, on the other hand, is expressly desired: The police are therefore extremely careful and only very rarely actually launch a public search for missing people. Beforehand, it is carefully considered whether the listed disadvantages of a public search are acceptable - precisely because the dangerous situation requires it.
And: Data protection is always guaranteed here. That's why we don't put any personal data from people you're looking for directly on Facebook. When you receive a search report, you will always be redirected from here to the search portal. This is the only place where the personal data and photos of the people you are looking for are stored. And here they are immediately deleted by the police as soon as the danger has been averted. So if you share a police search, you won't have any problems because the police will ensure that the data is deleted. The link to the missing person report that you shared will then be ineffective. You have helped, have not fallen for any fakes and are not exposed to any claims for recourse.
Further information on this topic can be found at “gulden röttger law attorneys” at:
source
Berlin Police on Facebook
Also read: Social networks: searches and reports of missing persons
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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )

