Frisco City Council members at the April 21 council meeting approved the Frisco Police Department’s request to apply for a $35,000 grant for a social media and intelligence monitoring program.

The Internet-based program app would allow police to monitor social media outlets such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram in real time to help them respond to incidents or emergencies before they are reported to police.

Several Frisco residents spoke up in opposition to the app, saying it infringes on personal freedoms. One resident called the app the police department's attempt to "conduct warrantless and secretive monitoring on its citizens."

Because it was a grant application only, the item was originally on the consent agenda and would therefore not be discussed. Council members asked to have the item pulled from the consent agenda so it could be discussed.

Frisco Police Chief John Bruce said people talk over social media outlets all the time and the conversations are open for the public to see.

“We’re not talking about private conversations,” Bruce said. “We are talking about conversations in the public sector. [With this app] we would be able to identify [incidents] a whole lot faster.”

Bruce said his understanding is that the app would not be able to pick up conversations from people who have their profiles set to private, unless that person follows the police department on a social media site.

Such software has been used for two incidents in Frisco already.

A test of the app software was used during the 2014 Jimmy Buffett concert, Bruce said, and by searching for keywords such as marijuana or fights police were able to get information and respond to incidents long before receiving a call for service.

According to the information listed in the grant application, the app, used by an unnamed law enforcement agency outside of Frisco, alerted Frisco police to a large, underage drinking party taking place at an abandoned house that police subsequently broke up.

Responding to concerns from council members, Bruce said data not related to criminal activity would not be stored, and that the app would be primarily used for real-time incident reporting, not data keeping.

Bruce said the software would be useful in large-scale emergencies, such as a tornado, or at large sporting events or other city events.

Councilman Jeff Cheney pointed out that intelligence gathering from social media is nothing new—and nothing that any member of the public can’t search for—it would just allow the police department to search social media outlets more efficiently.

The police department has applied for the grant money for the program. If the police department receives the grant, the issue would go back to the council for the acceptance of the grant money. If the council approves the grant money, the issue would then go before the council a third time when the police department moves to buy the software.

Council members told Bruce if the police department is awarded the grant, they would like to know more about how the program works, especially in relation to data storage, before it is approved.