{"id":242387,"date":"2026-05-08T19:55:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T23:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/08\/houston-county-sheriffs-office-launches-intelligence-unit-to-combat-online-threats\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T11:40:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T15:40:11","slug":"houston-county-sheriffs-office-launches-intelligence-unit-to-combat-online-threats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/08\/houston-county-sheriffs-office-launches-intelligence-unit-to-combat-online-threats\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston County Sheriff\u2019s Office launches intelligence unit to combat online threats"},"content":{"rendered":"

Houston County Sheriff\u2019s Office launches intelligence unit to combat online threats<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.wtvy.com\/2026\/05\/08\/houston-county-sheriffs-office-launches-intelligence-unit-combat-online-threats\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-05-08 19:55:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.wtvy.com<\/a><\/p>\n

HOUSTON COUNTY, Ala. (WTVY) – The Houston County Sheriff\u2019s Office is launching a new program designed to identify online threats before they escalate into real-world violence.<\/p>\n

The Intelligence and Counterterrorism Unit, led by Lt. Aaron Cohen, will focus on emerging threats online that turn into acts of violence. Cohen said speed is key to the program\u2019s success.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe internet is the largest threat in the intelligence environment in the world today,\u201d Cohen said. \u201cAnd if we\u2019re not in that space, in that battle space, then we\u2019re reacting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cohen said the unit will look for what he calls \u201cleakage\u201d \u2014 signals that something is building.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe issue isn\u2019t whether those signals exist. It\u2019s whether they\u2019re identified and acted on early enough,\u201d Cohen said.<\/p>\n

Cohen brings a counterterrorism background to the role. The unit will use already available technology to identify threats.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem with the internet today is that everybody who\u2019s posting and ideating and spiraling is anonymous,\u201d Cohen said. \u201cWe need to get to those posts quickly using different tools, different methods. Open source only.\u201d <\/p>\n

Cohen assured this is not meant to invade someone\u2019s privacy, but simply to catch those early signs.<\/p>\n

The unit will share intelligence with agencies across the region, not just monitor Houston County.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re taking this intelligence unit and working on it if it\u2019s here and if it\u2019s not. We move that information quickly to the agency that needs it,\u201d Cohen said. \u201cLook at this as the beginning of what I call a regional-to-national early actor counterterrorism network, or what I call REACT.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once a threat is identified, intervention is the next step. Cohen said there is a connection between suicidal ideation and shootings.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we believe that the sooner we can get mental health and early knock-and-talks out to those individuals, we believe that it can prevent those actors from pivoting outwards,\u201d said Cohen.<\/p>\n

The unit also covers threats…<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Houston County Sheriff\u2019s Office launches intelligence unit to combat online threats https:\/\/www.wtvy.com\/2026\/05\/08\/houston-county-sheriffs-office-launches-intelligence-unit-combat-online-threats\/ Publish Date: 2026-05-08…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":242388,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/gray-wtvy-prod.gtv-cdn.com\/resizer\/v2\/WWAIGHSHFBCU3O43JASVIX3E3Y.png?auth=14b9ecd8df4ea82dcc897a764d88c36e41d5897e85e5bd854635b34043ec6ac8&width=1200&height=600&smart=true","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-242387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-privacy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242387"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242387"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":242389,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242387\/revisions\/242389"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}