Facebook became the social media of choice for an anonymously created cyber-bullying page called ìFalcon Problems.î Posted Feb. 26, the comments on the page were threatening and directed at students from Falcon High School, which led to a prompt investigation by the El Paso County Sheriffís Office.Dave Watson, Falcon School District 49 safety and emergency coordinator, said reports on the page had been filtering in to the safety resource officer, Deputy Teresa Murphy, at Falcon High School the day before it hit the mainstream media. ìShe got right on it and initiated the investigation the night before this all came to light,î Watson said. ìShe is really in touch with the student body and has a great rapport with them. They come to her with this type of stuff.îWatson said that Murphy had an open line of communication with El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa, leading to quick action. ìWe have a great working relationship with the sheriff,î Watson said. ìHis commitment to school safety and providing SROs has been a wonderful asset.îThe sheriffís office pursued a search warrant to determine the identity of the suspects, and Facebook cooperated with the investigation, said Lt. Jeff Kramer, EPCSO public information officer. Investigators were able, without a warrant, to identify two suspects whom they believed created the page.The page was taken down Feb. 27; and, by Feb. 28, the two 18-year-old suspects, Alexander Natale and Kyle Pate, were each served summons, charging them with harassment, Kramer said. ìAlthough I canít give statistics, this isnít the first time weíve seen social media or something similar to that used to communicate threats,î he said.The charges are class-three misdemeanors, but the decision to follow through with prosecution of the suspects is a collective decision, Kramer said. ìWeíve been making contact with the victims on the page, including their parents, because of some of the (victimsí) ages,î he said. ìThe discussion with the victims can decide that (whether to prosecute) heavily because it relies on their cooperation.îLea Wallace, Falcon High School parent, said the posts she saw on the Facebook page were shocking and disturbing. ìThere were threats made, studentsí pictures and names posted with sexual content, claims that there could be physical violence,î Wallace said. ìI think the purpose of it was to hurt people.ìThese kids were claiming to hide behind their freedom of speech rights and they couldíve posted it on their own wall, but they didnít; they were cowards. Yes, there is that right. But thereís a line; and, if you cross that, there are consequences.îIn response to the ìFalcon Problemsî page, on Feb. 28, Harleigh Wilson, a senior at Falcon High, anonymously created the ìFalcon Winnersî page. In an email to The New Falcon Herald, Wilson wrote the following: ìíFalcon Winnersí was made in response to ëFalcon Problems,í which was a page created to tear people down and make them feel bad about themselves by calling them annoying, stupid and some even more inappropriate things. I hate that in our society today it is okay to do things like this unless it goes so far as to threaten people. What I did was make a page to do the exact opposite and bring people up. I wanted to reassure people within the school that there are still a few people who actually care about others and what they do and that their feats have not gone unnoticed.îìI think it is totally amazing that a student would flip it around from something so negative and create something so positive,î Wallace said of the ìFalcon Winnersî page. ìThat makes me proud to be a Falcon parent, knowing that there are such good students like that.îìWe always want to encourage the students to have a voice and voice their opinions, but if it becomes detrimental to the educational environment, we have to take a look at it and investigate it further,î Watson said. ìSafety is the utmost importance for the students and the staff.î
