Regarding PedoBear and "Real Life Outrage"

[sparkfrost]

Either two police departments were dumb enough to believe that an internet meme is a real life threat and use the exact same flier to report it, or the "IRL Outrage over PedoBear!" is fake.

Exhibit A, from Tulsa

Exhibit B, from San Luis Obispo

Just so you know.

Comments

[greyweirdo.livejournal.com]

I would almost say fake, but I know there are police stupid enough to use whatever flier they were given. It could be manufactured, someone trying to whip up panic for the lulz and the authorities are being swept up.

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

I just sent the following message to Snopes.com about this:

Two police departments--one in Tulsa, Oklahoma and one in San Luis Obispo, California--have both received warnings about an alleged "pedophile mascot."

http://www.tulsaworld.com//webextra/content/items/PUBLIC%20NFOBulletin0000915.pdf

San Luis Obispo: http://gawker.com/5636011/stupid-california-police-warn-parents-of-pedobear-the-pedophile-mascot?skyline=true&s=i

The warnings appear to be identical except for who to contact in case you spot this dangerous PedoBear. The Tulsa version says to contact this:

Tulsa Police Department
Child Exploitation Unit~~ Sex Crimes Unit~~Child Crisis Unit
600 Civic Center, Tulsa, OK 74103
Phone: 918-596-9133 Fax: 918-596-1547

(According to http://www.tulsapolice.org/service/SERVICE.pdf, Tulsa has a Child Crisis Unit and an Exploitation Unit--but not a Child Exploitation Unit. On the other hand, that may have changed since 2007, when the tulsapolice.org PDF was made. According to http://www.tulsapolice.org/phone.html, 918-596-9133 is the number of the Detective Division, which handles sex crimes and the child crisis unit.)

The San Luis Obispo version says to contact:

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT
1585 Kansas Avenue
San Luis Obispo, CA 93405
Dispatch (805) 781-4550

(According to http://www.slosheriff.org/_Contact/Department.aspx, that is indeed San Luis Obispo's number for Dispatch and Patrol Headquarters.)

The San Luis Obispo version also adds this:

This informational bulletin was shared with your law enforcement agency by:

SEXUAL ASSAULT FELONY ENFORCEMENT
San Diego Task Force

(This appears to be real. According to http://ag.ca.gov/cbi/content/safe.php, SAFE is a program set up by the California Attorney General, and such task forces work in conjunction with police departments all over California.)

If you have had additional related experiences or have input with the subject matter, please contact:

Jim W. Jones, SDPD Detective/Task Force Agent
Dept. of Justice SAFE Sex Offender Task Force/ San Diego
(858) 268-5409
jim.jones@doj.ca.gov, jwjones@pd.sandiego.gov

(According to this article--http://www.delmartimes.net/news/268096-police-urge-parents-to-stay-vigilant-to-keep-children-safe--Jim Jones is indeed a detective and a member of said task force. The article mentions one of his e-mail addresses and what number to use when calling him, too.)

This may be a fraud being booted about the Internet to make law enforcement look ridiculous. Or it may be that some group has completely missed the point and is really trying to alert police departments to the dangers of a "pedophile mascot." I'm inclined to think the former, since the relevant info about Detective Jones just appeared in an online newspaper yesterday.

[katieupsidedown.livejournal.com]

The initial flier may be fake, but I can vouch that it is being legitimately cycled through police departments. One of my flisters works for the Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and I first heard about it when she posted it, saying that he coworkers had received it from another department and were taking it seriously.