Page 3 - AT

A3
U.S. NEWS Thursday 1 November 2018

Law enforcement faces dilemma in assessing online threats

Continued from Front posts is significant and the magazine and a “detailed
question arises: Is some- plan of attack.” He was ar-
“We can go out on Twit- thing a true threat or free rested just as he was leav-
ter and there are loads speech? ing his driveway.
of people saying insane They are mindful of the fact Dylann Roof, convicted
stuff, but how do you that the First Amendment of the 2015 slaying of nine
know which is the one per- protects Americans’ right to black churchgoers in South
son? It’s always easy after express even speech that Carolina, had posted a
the fact, to go: ‘That was many in society find abhor- 2,000-word racist rant and
clear.’ But clearly every- rent — and have to make posed in photos with fire-
one spouting their mouth often-subjective decisions arms and the Confederate
doesn’t go and shoot up about what crosses the flag. Nikolas Cruz, the teen-
a synagogue,” said David line. Among more than 550 ager charged in the slaying
Chipman, a retired agent police departments across of 17 students and adults at
of the federal Bureau of Al- the country surveyed sev- a high school in Parkland, In this Oct. 28, 2018, file photo a Pittsburgh Police officer walks
cohol, Tobacco, Firearms eral years ago by the In- Florida, hurled online slurs past the Tree of Life Synagogue and a memorial of flowers and
and Explosives and now ternational Association against blacks and Muslims, stars in Pittsburgh in remembrance of those killed and injured
senior policy adviser for the of Chiefs of Police, about and went so far as to state when a shooter opened fire during services Saturday at the
Giffords Center. three-quarters said they he wanted to be a “profes- synagogue.
Robert Bowers, the man regularly searched social sional school shooter.” Associated Press
accused of opening fire at media for potential threats. The rants did not affect arm, criminal background past or mental health prob-
a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Lt. Chris Cook, spokesman their ability to buy guns. checks only look for any lems that led to an involun-
expressed virulently anti- for the Arlington, Texas, Po- When purchasing a fire- records showing a criminal tary commitment.q
Semitic views on a social lice Department, said the
media site called Gab, ac- searches are often done
cording to an Associated manually, using keywords
Press review of an archived to try to identify troubling
version of the posts made posts. “It’s very time con-
under his name. The cover suming, it’s very staff and
photo for his account fea- resource intensive and you
tured a neo-Nazi symbol, have humans involved in
and his recent posts includ- the process so there is the
ed a photo of a fiery oven potential that law enforce-
like those used in Nazi con- ment can miss something,”
centration camps during Cook said, adding that
World War II. Other posts departments can’t rely on
referenced false conspira- social media alone. The
cy theories suggesting the community needs to be in-
Holocaust was a hoax. volved to report any suspi-
It was only just before the cious behavior.
shooting that the poster “Everyone has to be our
believed to be Bowers extra eyes and ears out
seemed to cross the line, there,” he said.
posting: “I can’t sit by and In one case where vigi-
watch my people get lance paid off, authori-
slaughtered. Screw your ties say a black woman
optics, I’m going in.” Au- received troubling racist,
thorities say Bower killed 11 harassing messages on
people and injured six oth- Facebook from a man she
ers, including four officers didn’t know, prompting her
who responded. to call police. The tip from
Keeping tabs on social me- the New Jersey woman led
dia posts has been used for Kentucky police to a home
years by law enforcement where they found Dylan
to try to identify potential Jarrell with a firearm, more
threats. The task is enor- than 200 rounds of ammu-
mous and it’s an inexact nition, a bulletproof vest,
science. The volume of a 100-round high-capacity