At a Paradise Valley Unified District (4241) safety briefing, an investigator with the Phoenix Police Department’s Violent Crimes Bureau said social-media threats to schools are treated as criminal terroristic threats and described how investigators traced and arrested a suspect within hours.

“This is making a terroristic threat. So for anybody who thinks it's a joke, having a class 3 felony in your employment record is not a joke,” the investigator said, summarizing the legal stakes and the department’s approach.

The investigator gave a recent case as an example: a threat sent over Snapchat in which a student said a classmate would be shot during a specified time at school. Within several hours, Snapchat provided law enforcement with account data — including username, email, account creation date, phone number, birth date and a recently used IP address — and investigators obtained GPS coordinates tied to the device. The investigator said the coordinates were accurate to “within plus or minus 5 meters.” Less than 24 hours after the threat was received, a 14-year-old boy was arrested on multiple felony counts, including making a terroristic threat, the investigator said.

A Phoenix Police Department representative at the briefing said the problem is not unique to Phoenix. “Not just with the Phoenix Police Department, but it almost seems as if it's a nationwide problem where, a lot of students, they think it's a joke that they can make these threats into schools…and laugh about it. And the police department will take each and every single one of these threats as if it's a serious matter,” the representative said.

The investigator said law enforcement treats every threat seriously because investigating them consumes substantial resources and can disrupt the wider community by forcing school closures and road shutdowns. The Cactus Park Precinct’s real-time crime center — a set of technologies that displays active patrol locations, calls for service and camera feeds — was cited as one of the tools used to help identify and locate suspects.

The presentation listed social platforms commonly used to post threats: Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook Messenger and Discord. The investigator said those platforms “work with law enforcement,” and that cooperation in the cited case enabled the rapid identification of the account tied to the threat.

Moderator: “What is one final message you can give students and families and the community when it comes to social media threats, reporting, not reposting?”

Investigator: “Parents, be aware of who your kids are online. Be aware of the content they're posting. This is not a joke. This is a crime, and it's a crime that we aggressively pursue. If you do this and we catch you, you will go to jail.”

The briefing emphasized education for students and families about the legal consequences of posting or reposting threats and the community impact of hoaxes. The investigator advised students to consider how they present themselves online and said that responsible online behavior reduces the risk of legal exposure and community disruption.

Provenance (transcript excerpts): topicintro — Investigator opening warning about terroristic threats: "This is making a terroristic threat. So for anybody who thinks it's a joke, having a class 3 felony in your employment record is not a joke." (00:11). topfinish — Final advisory to parents and students: "Parents, be aware of who your kids are online... This is not a joke. This is a crime, and it's a crime that that we aggressively pursue. If you do this and we catch you, you will go to jail." (04:03).