WEST FARGO, N.D. (KFGO) – West Fargo Police Chief Denis Otterness is reviewing last week’s threat of violence at Cheney Middle School over social media and says the incident would have likely been resolved much sooner had there been a faster response from Google.
“We had been waiting in excess of 11 or 12 hours, I think, on a response from Google,” said Otterness.
Google did respond with information that helped lead police to the suspects, but not until after a news conference and after the threatened gun incident was to have happened at the middle school.
Otterness had complained publicly about the lack of cooperation from the giant tech company.
“From a law enforcement standpoint, when you’re dealing with threats that are imminent and potential high public-safety incidents involving our schools and things like that, we need a much more timely response than 11 or 12 hours,” said Otterness. “Those of us in law enforcement expect better because our community expects us to be able to deal with that.”
The school threat had been posted on both Google and Snapchat Monday night. The threat led to an extensive investigation, and students had to work on-line from home.
Otterness says Snapchat did respond to police promptly to provide some assistance in the investigation.
