Authorities in Monroe County are using technology in the Crime Analysis Center to investigate people who pose a potential threat through social media.
Reaching a potential mass shooting suspect before the gunfire – that is the effort happening at the Monroe County Crime Analysis Center where David Phelps sets up shop.
“The goal is to intervene before they hit that critical point where they feel like their action and an attack on another person is where they want to go," said David Phelps, New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services. "The way we work, is that we are part of a collaborative group that works directly with law enforcement locally and nationally, depending on what the crime is, to assist them with obtaining the information they need to pursue these online investigations as well as to investigations in the field.”
The highly-trained analysts at the center search the web history of a particular individual.
“And so cases like the ones in Buffalo and in Texas, where you have an individual that is having some sort of crisis that led to the ultimate horrific event that he participated in, we are then, as they are online or talking to people, that information will be provided to us by law enforcement," said Phelps.
But authorities need to be alerted to those who are behaving suspiciously online, to begin with.
“But what we consistently see is people do see this information and they tell no one,” said Phelps. “And that is what is so frustrating and disappointing, is there are people online directly communicating with them or people in their lives that are seeing them in crisis, and they’re not contacting law enforcement. Or they are telling somebody and it’s not being properly followed up on.”
If you see anything unusual or suspicious in person or online, authorities urge you to call 911 or the New York State Police Tip Line at 1-800-GIVE-TIP.