Several cases of women hitchhikers having frightening experiences with men who have picked them up has touched off social media reports of similar incidents.
In one such instance there’s a report of an elderly native woman being accosted by two men near the arena.
“She had the sense to swing her hand bag and hit the assailant. He screamed racial remarks at her and saying all you Indians are going to disappear,” indicated the report.
“This is disturbing, that two people can run around Terrace threatening innocent people because of the color of their skin. She described the vehicle as a grey car with two Caucasians in it,” the report continued.
In a Facebook comment, another person speaks of several abduction attempts.
“There is a silver car targeting aboriginal young girls and now a white truck with three guys in it ….,” the comment says.
“Please, please, please do not go out alone, especially in Terrace where racism is very high and the police are of no help because they too are racist,” the comment continues.
RCMP Constable Angela Rabut said officers don’t usually see an increase in related calls after high profile incidents are contained in news reports.
“What we do see is a rise in social media gossip that tends to get reported. These calls take up a lot of our resources and time,” said Rabut.
“Anyone can post anything and it is often difficult to determine what is and is not factual. People need to question the credibility of the source and even then ask is it a first hand account or hearsay.”
While police may issue public warnings about safety, Rabut said individual rights must be respected and officers must be cautious to not interfere with an investigation.
She did encourage people who are victims of crime to report it to the police so that it can be investigated.