Anyone associated with Longwood may have seen a photo circulating around social media this past week. A car of three girls (two pictured in the circulated photo) took a photo of themselves drinking what is assumed to be alcohol.
There were two photos which were posted on the Farmville Snapchat account. The one which found its way to Facebook pictured one girl taking the photo with a bottle in a brown bag and the driver of the car drinking from a Miller Lite can. Whether or not the can was open is questionable.
The girls’ faces are shown clearly, but without the bottles, in the frame of the second photo.
This first photo was posted to Longwood’s Facebook and was shared by many individuals concerned with the action of the girls.
Chief Robert Beach said that the girls have been identified and have been addressed about the situation.
“It’s visual evidence of a crime being committed, the underage possession of alcohol, the consumption of alcohol, and we took action on campus. The students have been addressed. It’s a working case here on campus,” said Beach.
Because the nature of the photo was a ‘selfie,’ the girls had to be fully aware of what they were doing.
“This is obviously a selfie….If you think that’s a good idea, then do it. The police would be more than happy to look at that,” says Beach.
Beach said that whenever they have evidence of a crime being committed, they would start an investigation to determine whether it leads them to the point of being able to establish probable cause and that the event actually occurred. The probable cause would then be taken to the Commonwealth’s Attorney to determine whether or not the incident would be prosecuted.
As far as the question of whether or not Longwood Police would use Snapchat as a form of “surveillance,” Beach said that the task isn’t possible for them to do.
“There’s so much social media. It’s impossible. That would be a full time job….Inevitably, what happens is like, in this case, somebody sees it, tells us about it, we go find it out, we start our process.”
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