When it comes to transparency the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office has really tried to make this a priority with the community. When there is an incident that is or has occurred, it seems that social media stories tend to take off like wildfire before knowing the entire truth of the situation. This week Sheriff Jeff Wood wanted to speak about the dangers of social media.

“Throughout the year we have had some major issues, some major calls that we’ve dealt with and social media blows up and there is all kinds of rumor floating around, that is portrayed as fact but it is pure rumor and it stirs the community up. From a law enforcement standpoint when we are investigating these cases there are certain things that we can talk about and certain things we can’t so we are kind of a at a little bit of a disadvantage when it comes to the social media rumor mill,” explained Sheriff Wood. Its important when there is a situation taking place that community members be patient as the investigation is ongoing.

If there is a significant threat to the public the Sheriff’s Office will immediately get the word out via news outlets. “We would get it out through the radio station, through our social media, through every means possible, tv, every means possible if there is a significant threat but if there is nothing that is substantiated we can’t put out a lot of information about stuff that we don’t have the facts on because all that does is cause community stir, it causes a lot of issues that way,” stated Sheriff Wood. The public need to realize that in a criminal investigation there is not a lot that can be said until the investigation is over because it could jeopardize the case if it goes to court.

There is another phone scam going around the area that is targeting senior citizens and the callers are claiming to be with Publishers Clearing House. Sheriff Jeff Wood received a phone call from a concerned couple about this, “They’re going to try to get you to pay taxes on your giant winnings that you will never see is what they are trying to do. These nice folks heard about this on the radio, they said we hear you talk about this on the radio, this sounds to good to be true, so, therefore, we can’t believe that it is, would you check it out for me. So, I helped them out with that and checked it out and of course, when the Sheriff calls, they generally don’t want to talk to me.” Local Law enforcement, as well as banking institutions, are fully aware of the phone scams that are making the rounds so citizens can contact either if they have any worries about a phone scam that is asking for money.

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