LCSO “social media police” work to stop threats

LEE COUNTY, Fla. “Always watching, always there. Yeah, that’s part of what we do.”

Lieutenant Michael Miller is a Lee County deputy. He’s also a commander in the Youth Services Division, at the Lee County school district.

“Basically, in a nutshell, we safeguard the public school system,” said Miller.

Miller works alongside school resource officers, who are responsible for 89,000 students. Part of Miller’s job, is to have eyes on social media at all times. His task force works to stop threats against Lee County schools and students, in their tracks.

“We have two full-time detectives and they investigate things 24 hours a day. A lot of our social media threats happen after hours. We don’t wait until the following school day to react on them, we get on them right away, whether it’s a bomb threat, a threat of someone coming to shoot up the school.”

Threats that Miller says are becoming more common, because of social media.

“It’s alarming, it happens all the time. We probably get a couple times a week.”

No threat too big or too small. Take Estero High School for example.

Last week, a student was caught reciting song lyrics, violent lyrics. Deputies reacted quickly but found it was a false alarm.

“We can’t take for granted that they are just fooling around.”

In that case, a student reported the alleged threat. Miller says that’s common, and smart.

“They’ll do the right thing, bring it to Crime Stoppers, bring it up to their teachers, the School Resource Officers.”

Lieutenant Miller has advice for both parents and students.

For parents, he says, when you can, find time to look at what your kids are doing on social media. He also tells kids to think about what you post.

Miller says something as simple as saying your school is the bomb, could result in a suspension, and it has happened.

He warns students who post real threats will get arrested.