Law enforcement across the state of Alabama has taken the recent rash of clown threats through social media seriously, charging suspects in a few of those incidents with "making terroristic threats."

Since the clown threats sprung up in southern Alabama on Thursday, Sept. 15, the Mobile Police Department's Cyber Intelligence Unit, which has been operating for a little more than a year, has monitored local threats at area schools.

The unit partners with local schools, businesses and citizens to set up connections with their existing video, audio and computer equipment. This gives them flexibility to download data directly from those sources when a crime is committed in close vicinity.

That helped MPD arrest a 16-year-old juvenile in connection with a social media threat stating, "Coming to terrorize local schools."

The Mobile Police's Cyber Intelligence Unit Comdr. Kevin Levy said when the threats began there were two issues.

"Some were direct threats saying XYZ is going to do this," said Levy. "Then you had the transmission of images that could be perceived as a threat and in this instance we received a picture of the clown saying it was coming to the school."

He says a small core unit of Cyber Intelligence team members swooped into action once the call came in. Without disclosing too much information about the unit's protocol, he says they immediately determine how the message was received and begin a verification process.

"A lot of it is electronic so if there was a post, what was on the post, who said it and capture as much evidence as we can to identify the origin and the source," said Levy.

The threat forced the police department and the schools in Mobile to use additional resources Monday morning. Several schools were put on lockdown and police officers had to canvas the buildings for students' safety as a precaution after the arrest was made.

Following that incident, MPD received a report Monday night about a text message sent at 9:42 p.m. stating, "There are clown threats on Mary G Montgomery High School and Baker High School tomorrow." The person who received the text requested officers at the school the next morning.

On Tuesday morning a teacher from B.C. Rain High School notified police that an unknown source sent a threatening message around 10:20 a.m. through Facebook Messenger referencing the lockdown that the school was under and stating that a killer was there. Those incidents turned out to be hoaxes, but Levy says the damage is still done.

"It disrupts school, it disrupts the flow and more kids, said Levy. People don't understand that even if it was done unintentionally the side effect once it's sent is out of your control."

The Mobile Police Department Cyber Intelligence Unit, Commander, Kevin Levy sits in the command center at police headquarters.

Levy says in the clown threat incidents, they suspect there were a lot of copycats trying to incite fear, while other messages could have been copied from an original message and recirculated.

"For example if you posted something online and it said, 'I'm coming for you' and it was sent to a particular kid or school and it's forwarded to someone else how do they know exactly who it was intended for," said Levy.

Law enforcement takes those threats seriously regardless of the original intent once it's reported.

"The way the law reads it does not matter what your intent is necessarily it's the reaction of the person who receives the threat," said Levy.

Currently under Alabama state law there are a few statutes that govern how threats through social media, electronic mail or text messages are treated as legal charges.

Mobile District Attorney Ashley Rich said she has been outspoken about these kinds of threats over the last five to six years.

"Parents need to understand when you give your child a cellphone it comes with responsibilities and those responsibilities include being a good citizen," said Rich.

She said in the case of the 16-year-old the mobile device that the threatening message was sent from was used in a negative or harmful way toward others.

"That's exactly what this young person did posting these threats and we are going to prosecute these types of behaviors," said Rich.

Levy says while it varies from state to state, in Alabama harassing communications, harassment and terroristic threats are the most common charges for this type of offense.

"When a message is sent to one or more people and causes a disruption or forces a person to take some serious action to prevent themselves from being harmed in most cases the state views that as a terroristic threat," said Levy.

In the case of the 16-year-old, Rich says it will be handled by the Strickland Youth Center in Mobile.

"The proceedings will be closed without media and it's not made a public record because it's handled in juvenile court," said Rich.

She says if the defendant was arrested between the ages of 18-21 and had a youthful offender hearing it could be used as public record, but it's typically sealed under the person's juvenile record.

Levy wants the public to understand that regardless, all of the threats are taken seriously by law enforcement. Once an arrest is made they will interview the individual who sent the threatening messages and the victim. Afterward police will determine how the case will be presented to the district attorney.

"So if you think you're going to do something as a joke, law enforcement is going to view that as a threat and there will be a case opened," said Levy.