JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Millions of people have Facebook and now local law enforcement is using the site to help with investigations.
New4JAX Crime and Safety Analyst Gil Smith said there are a few different programs like Blue Jay that assist officers and police agencies to narrow down social media searches. In general, the programs scan sites like Facebook and Twitter.
"They can watch and see if anyone is planning an event and sort of head them off before the crime happens," said Smith. "Even after the crime has been committed they will go on these sites and brag about it."
Last Thursday, two girls were hit by gunfire inside a school bus on the Westside. The suspected shooter, Edgar Robles, 16, still hasn't been arrested.
"After the incident on the bus people are now watching it (social media). Before they might read about a fight and maybe ignore it, now they're thinking well the same incident could occur," said Smith.
Several comments (pictured above) were made in reference to the shooting death of a teen Saturday on Jacksonville's Northside. News4JAX has blurred some of those comments because of the language.
Smith said parents need to keep an eye on their child or children's social media pages. He said they need to pay attention to who they're talking to and what they're posting.
Above all, he said threats of any kind need to be reported.
"It's hard to tell if maybe they're just talking trash they really don't plan on carrying out," said Smith.
Smith said sometime between July and August of 2014 teen violence began to spike. He said that was around the same time Sheriff John Rutherford ended Operation Safe Streets.
Smith hopes with Operation Cease Fire coming back, things will start to calm down.
"Hopefully parents will step up more and work with law enforcement this can decrease," said Smith. "Because the summer is coming up now and kids are going to have a lot of time on their hands."