Role of Facebook in search for missing teen surprises RCMP

The RCMP officer who co-ordinated the search for Kyle Bambrick, the 18-year-old who died in a blizzard near Charlottetown New Year's Day, says he'll be paying more attention to Facebook during future search efforts.

'We're going to have to be more cognizant of it in the future.' — RCMP Cpl. Scott Stevenson

Bambrick's friends used the social networking site to get out information about the search. The site was launched by Jeff Docherty.

"I'm a big Facebook user. I know it reaches a lot of people very quickly," Docherty told CBC News Wednesday.

"I immediately thought the best thing to do is to create a group for him and try to get the invites out there, raise awareness that he is missing, and see if we can get some pictures up and have people on the lookout for him."

Before long, thousands of people had joined the group, and they all received a message that police were calling on the public to help with the search effort. Docherty said a member of the RCMP told one of Bambrick's family members to pass that message on.

But RCMP Cpl. Scott Stevenson said that was false information and served as a warning to him that he needed to keep an eye on Facebook.

"Now that we're aware that this type of thing exists, we're going to have to be more cognizant of it in the future," said Stevenson.

"There's probably a use for it, but unless there's an official request for help, then that's the type of thing we wouldn't want to see posted on there."

When searchers found Bambrick's body, more than three days after he was last seen, the news was posted on the Facebook group two hours before police confirmed Bambrick's death to the media.