A job posting in southeast Michigan is getting some attention.
Wayne County is looking for a “Youth Intelligence Specialist.” This is someone who will track what kids are doing online, specifically alarming posts that might threaten violence or bullying.
University of Michigan Professor Justin Heinze researches school violence and told us more.
“Oftentimes when we think about things that are posted on social media, they might be around extreme acts of school violence, but you also see postings that are related to self-harm,” Heinze said. “You see postings that are related to interpersonal violence and gang violence. You even see postings or attitudes or different sort of indications that there could be dating violence. So there is a lot of different ways that violence is communicated to individuals.”
Heinze says while this “youth intelligence specialist” is a good first step, he doesn’t think this person will be able to monitor everything. It may be cliche, but he says it does take a village.
