Mounties in Kelowna have reminded the public they do not condone vigilantism after a number of threatening posts were made about a man accused of exposing himself at a beach.
Officers responded to what they will only describe as “an incident” at Rotary Beach on Monday afternoon.
They spoke with people at the scene, identified the subject of their complaints and then detained a man.
He was not arrested, however, and police are not considering any charges against him.
Photographs purporting to show the man were published on Facebook about an hour after police were called.
A user claimed the man in the images had exposed himself to children.
The post – which was deleted late this morning – was shared hundreds of times, including by media sites.
Among the responses to the post were requests to publicize the man’s licence plate, suggestions that he be followed so his home address could be found and several threats of violence against him.
One user said they would have “slit his throat” and another advocated attacking him with bear spray.
Mounties, meanwhile, have asked anyone with information about the incident to call the Kelowna RCMP and cite file #2019-51747.
But they added: “The RCMP does not condone vigilantism and would recommend the public to leave investigations to the police.”
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