How anonymous is the state’s new security app?

It has been two weeks since the state rolled out a new app for students to anonymously report suspicious campus incidents or behavior.

The Florida Legislature required the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Florida Attorney General’s Office to launch an app for anonymously reporting suspicious activity last March as part of the sweeping new school security law. Nearly seven months later, state officials touted the launch of the app in a press release early this month. Local school district administrators have encouraged students to download the app on their phones.

“Schools should be safe places where students, educators and visitors can experience and share the joy of learning without fear,” said Florida Commissioner of Education Pam Stewart in the release. “Unfortunately, the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School serves as a reminder that we must remain vigilant at all times. The FortifyFL app makes it simple for anyone to report anonymously school safety concerns, and I urge all Floridians to download the app today.”

But after using the app to report a suspicious post on social media, one Sarasota parent is questioning the app’s definition of anonymous.

Kevin Angell, 39, was dropping his son off at school last Wednesday morning when he noticed a Facebook post on his feed. The post indicated that a child may have been walking to school with a gun in his hand.

Thinking the post was suspicious, Angell used the app to report the threat through a screenshot. The app requires no personal information to sign up. Once users enter the main screen, it offers a range of options, including “Report a Tip.” The system then asks whether it is an emergency and asks users to pick a school that the threat applies to based on their location.

Within 15 minutes of submitting the threat, Angell said, Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office deputies knocked on his door asking whether he or his child owned the iPhone that had made the report. A spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office confirmed that deputies were dispatched to an address on the same street as Angell’s through the FortifyFL app.

“When I asked what this was about, they said, ‘You submitted a tip through the FortifyFL app,’” Angell said. “I said, ‘No, I didn’t, I sent a screenshot from Facebook. It’s not occurring here. I don’t know why you guys are here or how you got here.’”

Angell is aware of the implications of most school security apps, since he runs one himself. His app, See Something Send Something, is intended more for the law enforcement community and used only in one county in the state of Florida, he says. He noted that he did not submit his app as part of the request for proposals for a school security app from the state.

The Herald-Tribune contacted the Florida Attorney General’s office for a comment but did not receive a response.

School security expert Curt Lavarello, who is head of the School Safety Advocacy Council, said that the app is not truly anonymous if law enforcement officials have direct access to information submitted on the program. He has seen other programs with which law enforcement officers can obtain that information through a subpoena, but FortifyFL does not appear to have that barrier.

Local school districts have largely been responsible for pushing the FortifyFL app out. At a Boy Scout troop meeting last week, Sarasota County Schools Superintendent Todd Bowden told all the Scouts that they had homework: download the FortifyFL app.

The district’s head of security, Michael Andreas, noted that he had no hand in the app’s creation, but said that it is routine for law enforcement to continue to investigate threats after they are reported, especially in the case of screenshots.

“Even though someone reports something, if they take a snapshot of something and send it in, there may be some follow-up investigation that is obviously justified,” Andreas said. “That’s the job of law enforcement. When we receive a tip or some information, it’s our responsibility to run it down and the responsibility of all the law enforcement partners in Sarasota County.”

Andreas commended the idea of an anonymous reporting app, but said there were times when law enforcement would want an individual to come forward “more directly” to help protect the schools.

“But sometimes some people are more comfortable putting it out through an anonymous app,” he said.