App For High School Students Concerns Police After Threat

BOSTON (CBS) - A controversial app catering to high school students is making waves in Massachusetts after a threat was made in the Quaboag Regional School District.

The app, called AfterSchool, "allows you to share your thoughts, secrets, confessions, experiences, and feelings with others" according to its website. It restricts access to teenagers by requiring them to verify what high school they attend through their Facebook pages. It has just under 100,000 members in Massachusetts high schools, the company told WBZ.

On Sunday, the Warren Police Department was contacted by a concerned parent after an anonymous threat was posted on AfterSchool regarding Quaboag Regional High School. The threat read "For all of those who enjoy living, don't go to school tomorrow." Police arrested Shawn Trucheon, 18, from Southbridge.

"Had it not been for those parents who called, it's quite possible that none of us would have known about the threat," Warren Police Chief Bruce Spiewakowski said.

Spiewakowski said two of his officers tried to log onto the app but were unable to due to an algorithm which blocked them from posing as teens.

In a statement to WBZ, the AfterSchool Communications Team wrote, "Due to our extensive safety measures, we are able to capture threats before they are seen by students. […]In the rare instance of a threat, we are able to immediately notify local authorities and school administrators."

AfterSchool's safety measures include the use of technology to detect key words and phrases as well as human moderation. Posts that are "mean" are removed by moderators.

However, Spiewakowski said those safeguards did not work in his town's case.

"In this case it was a pretty clear threat and we didn't receive any notification other than from the concerned parents and students," he said.

AfterSchool sent WBZ a screenshot showing that they aided Warren Police in their threat investigation.