CosmicCowboy
09-18-2019, 08:02 AM
AUSTIN — State and federal officials in Texas have started monitoring racist and incendiary rhetoric online, such as that alleged to have been used by the suspect in the El Paso mass shooting, in the hopes of preventing violent attacks in the future.
Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw told a select House committee on mass violence prevention Tuesday that officials at so-called fusion centers — multi-agency intelligence centers throughout the state — had not previously done that work, in part because of the public’s concerns about privacy.
“We know that if we can proactively find those individuals before an event, we have a better chance of getting an opportunity to prevent it from happening,” McCraw said. “It takes professional analysts around-the-clock to do it.”
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dennis Bonnen each formed select committees and tasked them with exploring legislation to prevent gun violence after deadly shootings in August in El Paso and West Texas left 29 people dead and dozens injured.
As McCraw pointed out to the committee, there have been 12 mass casualty attacks in Texas in the past 53 years, and of those, six have come in the past three years.
Though the online hate monitoring still is in beginning phases, McCraw said officials will be tracking groups from neo-Nazis to incels — self-described involuntary celibates known to commit acts of violence.
Law enforcement is also infiltrating online forums like 8chan where the suspect in the El Paso slaughter allegedly posted a manifesto prior to the attack.
“All of those groups, obviously when there’s individuals that start talking about something that raises a concern, a threat, we should be able to move on it,” McCraw said.
McCraw said the centers will need more resources in the future to not only identify such individuals but also follow up and vet them.
Much of the discussion Tuesday centered on eight executive orders issued by Gov. Greg Abbott earlier this month that aim to improve the state’s suspicious activity reporting system. The public can submit tips about suspicious activity that may indicate future criminal or terrorist activity to the system using the state’s mobile app and website iWatch.
Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw told a select House committee on mass violence prevention Tuesday that officials at so-called fusion centers — multi-agency intelligence centers throughout the state — had not previously done that work, in part because of the public’s concerns about privacy.
“We know that if we can proactively find those individuals before an event, we have a better chance of getting an opportunity to prevent it from happening,” McCraw said. “It takes professional analysts around-the-clock to do it.”
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dennis Bonnen each formed select committees and tasked them with exploring legislation to prevent gun violence after deadly shootings in August in El Paso and West Texas left 29 people dead and dozens injured.
As McCraw pointed out to the committee, there have been 12 mass casualty attacks in Texas in the past 53 years, and of those, six have come in the past three years.
Though the online hate monitoring still is in beginning phases, McCraw said officials will be tracking groups from neo-Nazis to incels — self-described involuntary celibates known to commit acts of violence.
Law enforcement is also infiltrating online forums like 8chan where the suspect in the El Paso slaughter allegedly posted a manifesto prior to the attack.
“All of those groups, obviously when there’s individuals that start talking about something that raises a concern, a threat, we should be able to move on it,” McCraw said.
McCraw said the centers will need more resources in the future to not only identify such individuals but also follow up and vet them.
Much of the discussion Tuesday centered on eight executive orders issued by Gov. Greg Abbott earlier this month that aim to improve the state’s suspicious activity reporting system. The public can submit tips about suspicious activity that may indicate future criminal or terrorist activity to the system using the state’s mobile app and website iWatch.