Facebook posts falsely claim a female police officer is missing

A number of posts on Facebook are falsely claiming that a female police officer is missing.

The posts say a female police officer named “Thelma Jakes” has gone missing in a range of UK locations, but police forces for these areas told Full Fact the appeal is not genuine.

One post says: "FEMALE POLICE OFFICER MISSING IN DEWSBURY A female police officer, Thelma Jakes (30), has gone missing and the authorities are seeking assistance in locating her. Her vehicle was discovered last night with her daughter inside, but unfortunately, Officer Jakes remains unaccounted for. She is described as being 5'5" and 160 lbs. A silver alert has been issued, indicating that Officer Jakes may be in extreme danger and in need of immediate medical attention. The community's help is urgently required. Sharing this information takes only 2 seconds..."

We’ve also seen examples of this post shared in community groups for residents in East London, Croydon, Airdrie and Bradford. But police forces for all of these areas—the Metropolitan Police, Police Scotland, and West Yorkshire Police—all told us that they don't have an officer by the name of Thelma Jakes.

The text of the other posts appears almost identical, with just the location of the alleged disappearance changed. The posts, which have been shared thousands of times, feature an image of a woman standing in front of two police cars, wearing a police uniform and holding up a pair of handcuffs.

Last month, a police force in Wales issued a public statement after similar posts were shared in Facebook groups targeting communities in Wales. Dyfed-Powys Police said it had "received no official report from any other police force relating to this individual" and asked people not to share the post.

We've also seen examples of this post shared in Facebook groups for communities in South Africa, as well as the US states of Louisiana and Indiana.

Full Fact has not been able to find any reports of a disappearance matching that described in the posts.

We’ve written before about similar posts falsely raising the alarm for missing children, elderly people and injured dogs in Facebook community groups.

Hoaxes can damage people’s trust in local community news, because groups can become overwhelmed with false information. As a result, genuine posts may be ignored or dismissed as false.

You can find out more by watching an episode of BBC One’s Rip Off Britain, which features our investigation into the problem of hoax posts on Facebook. Our guide also offers some tips on how to identify such hoaxes.