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Gadsden police get help finding clues to crimes on social media

Gadsden police won't be scouring social media trying to catch minor lawbreakers, but they will be looking for information that can help officers solve serious crimes.

The City Council on Aug. 6 approved an agreement between the department and Bluesearch LLC, which will provide analytics services and, if needed, an analyst to help officers search social media. The initial cost is $25,000.

Bluesearch uses AI and web search technology to analyze social media for suspicious comments, interactions and messages. City Services Director Tena King called it “a tool that our police department can use in their social media investigations.”

Captain Wayne Keener said the department already has some resources dedicated to the task, but by using Bluesearch, “instead of having two of our officers busy doing things, we can use the service and one person (the analyst) to get the information we need on the serious crimes in the city and try to solve them as quickly as possible, especially when it comes to public safety.”

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Keener said the service will help secure social media data and narrow down the content of that information so that targeted search warrants can be obtained.

Council member Jason Wilson stressed, and Keener agreed, that the law will not be used to “crack down on kids who smoke weed and post a photo of it on social media.”

Keener said the goal is not to identify reasonable suspicion of new violations, but to gather information on existing crimes and free up staff “so we can put people on the streets to interact with people.”

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