False, bogus tips plague Florida’s new school safety app, school leaders say

False, bogus tips plague Florida’s new school safety app, school leaders say

Such a great idea, what could possibly go wrong?

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“We get a lot of erroneous tips that take up a lot of time,” explained John Newman, Chief of Security and Emergency Management for the Hillsborough County School District. In Hillsborough County, just under 200 tips have been received. Newman said about 10 were credible. Back in October, a tip through the FortifyFL app alerted Indian River County authorities to a Snapchat post claiming a student was going to shoot up a local middle school. Police spent all night investigating. searching the boys’ home to discover the original post came from a female classmate angry over their break up.

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In Pasco County, Superintendent Browning said some of the 150 tips they’ve received through the app have shut down schools so local law enforcement could thoroughly investigate. “It’s just frustrating,” Browning said. “When you do that, I will assure you there was no education going on that day. No educating of students,” he said.

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“It’s just frustrating being the Superintendent and having the responsibility to educate all our kids only to find out that it just takes a tip, referencing a school and everything stops at that school,” said Superintendent Browning.