The Knoxville Police Department is joining law enforcement agencies nationwide to warn people of a child pornography video circulating the internet via Facebook.
KPD says several East Tennessee residents have reported receiving the video of a young girl and adult male in their Facebook inbox. Similar reports have been made in several other states as well.
Police warn that no one should share this video under any circumstances. Officers say sharing the video could be considered distribution of child pornography and could lead to criminal charges. KPD also warns sharing continues the victimization of the child in the video.
KPD says anyone who receives the video should notify Facebook immediately. The social media site will then notify the proper law enforcement agency. Officers say the Facebook is working to remove all links to the video.
Police say, after notifying Facebook, to delete the video from your Facebook account.
"We appreciate everyone who has tried to help the child by alerting us to this horrific video. Multiple agencies are actively investigating the source of the video. We cannot stress enough, please do not share this video," Darrell Debusk, KPD spokesperson, said.
Debusk says KPD has recieved around a dozen reports of the video from people in Knoxville.
Officials in Memphis say the video originated in Alabama, and officials there are investigating the situation.
Kate Trudell with the Community Coalition Against Human Trafficking says viewing and sharing child pornography grows the issue.
"It might be easy to separate yourself from the picture of that act by saying, 'oh it's just the picture, it's not the real thing, it's just an image,' but every time that image is shared, it's almost like reliving that traumatic experience in real life for that victim," Trudell said.
Trudell says child pornography is an issue in every community, and knowing about the problem is the first step in addressing it.
"We have to acknowledge that yes, this is a real person on the other end of this video who has experienced something terrible and we have to respect that person enough to not click and to not pass it on," Trudell said.