No Social Media 'Hit List' Of Barnegat Pupils Exists, Chief Says

BARNEGAT TOWNSHIP, NJ - Barnegat Police Chief Keith Germain has a simple request.

If you are concerned about possible threats to school security, tell the police, tell school administrators, but don't just post it on social media.

After school officials notified police over the weekend that a student had claimed there was a "hit list" with students' names on, police began an immediate investigation, the chief said on the police department's Facebook page.

They found nothing after speaking to people who claimed to have seen or were alleged to have seen any list, Germain said.

He called the so-called list "yet another unfounded rumor that has metastasized on social media platforms."

But was concerns him the most is that the latest rumor or concern was not reported to police, but posted on social media.

"Facebook doesn’t have a police department," Germain said. "We can’t monitor every post on every Barnegat-centric social media page. If this had been a credible threat, it might have very well gone unknown to us if the school district hadn’t been alerted to it and immediately forwarded the concern to us."

Anyone who is concerned about threats or school safety, please report them to the school district and the police department, the chief says.

"We can't address things of which we are not aware," he said.

Image: Courtesy of Barnegat Police Department