Morristown police turned the search for a wanted community member into a social media “challenge” Wednesday, offering five smash burgers and two chocolate shakes in exchange for tips leading to an arrest.
“As always, your winnings can and will be delivered to you discreetly if you wish,” the department wrote on their Facebook page.
The post garnered hundreds of reactions and shares. It was the latest in a series of similar posts the department has made since at least 2024.
The subject in the post turned herself in the next day, police said.
Calling the initiative “Wanted Wednesdays,” the department has used splashy language meant to drive engagement, along with prizes ranging from Lego sets to movie tickets, to solicit information from the public.
The posts are used to assist in arrests of people with active warrants, according to the department.
“It’s about catching the attention of the people that are wanted, and also those that will help” in their apprehension, Lt. Todd Baxter of the Morristown Police Department said in an interview Thursday.
The Morristown post is part of a broader trend in which police departments have turned to social media to solicit tips on wanted individuals. The online attention can have long-lasting consequences for those named in the posts.
A 2021 investigation by the Los Angeles Times found police departments around the country increasingly use recurring social media campaigns such as “Wanted Wednesdays” and “Fugitive Fridays” to publicize warrants and solicit tips. The posts, which can stay online long after someone has served their time or been cleared of charges, can impact future job searches, housing prospects and relationships, the outlet reported.
The debate on similar policing tactics has surfaced in Vermont before. In 2015, South Burlington police stopped routinely posting mugshots on Facebook after then-Chief Trevor Whipple said the department’s comment sections had produced “a flurry of inappropriate comments.”
Concerns about police mug shots and the persistence of online materials have even prompted changes in journalism standards. In 2021, The Associated Press, an international news wire service, announced it would largely stop naming suspects accused of minor crimes or publishing their mugshots in brief crime stories, saying such reports can remain online indefinitely even when charges are later dropped or reduced
The Morristown police department turned off its own comments section on the Facebook posts after the comments section “got crappy,” according to Baxter, but the department hasn’t stopped the posts altogether.
Morristown police’s initiative started in 2023, when a man the department was trying to arrest ran from police multiple times, Baxter said. The department decided to turn to social media to seek information from the community.
While other departments might have put out a basic physical description and a monetary reward, Baxter took a different approach. He offered seven Shamrock Shakes.
“Within hours, we had the guy in custody,” he said.
Baxter said that every one of the 12 cases for which the department issued a ‘Wanted Wednesdays’ post led to an arrest. He said three or four of those people chose to turn themselves in, including the woman about whom the department most recently posted.
Baxter said he believes the initiative is helping the people his department arrests, many of whom he said struggle with addiction, by getting them reengaged with the legal system. He said that while he understands why some might take issue with the tone of the posts, he feels the department is being respectful and weighing suspects’ rights against the public interest –– and the need to grab attention.
“Somebody could make an argument that we’re shaming them, but I dare say that, you know, emotions aren’t a bad thing, shame being one of them,” he said. “As long as it doesn’t go overboard.”
The department takes the posts down as soon as the person in question is arrested, Baxter said. A VTDigger search, however, found at least seven “Wanted Wednesdays” posts from 2024 that had not been removed as of Thursday. Some of the posts appeared to have been updated to add that the suspect had been arrested, but the person’s name was not removed. One post from October of 2024 still featured photos of the person about whom police had sought information.
Tim Monaghan, who runs Riverbend Market in Morrisville, said that he feels the posts are trying to be respectful.
“It’s a serious thing,” he said. “I feel like they’re making as light about it as you can with giving away prizes for information, but I don’t feel like it’s been intentionally shaming a person.”
“I think it’s generally a positive thing that engages the community,” he added. “It lets people know that the police are trying.”
Rev. Becca Girrell, who serves as the pastor at the United Community Church of Morrisville, had a different take.
“While I appreciate and support our local law enforcement and the work they do to keep our community safe, holding people accountable for alleged crimes is not a challenge or a game,” she said.
“I’m concerned about this approach that dehumanizes people based on their mistakes instead of understanding that even people who are accused of crimes are human beings and members of our community,” she added. “This is not in the spirit that I’m used to seeing from the Morristown Police Department.”
