Billy Ferry’s family begged local law enforcement to Baker Act their son. They refused. He committed one of the most heinous crimes I’ve ever heard of. (See link.)
If police ran around arresting people who said incredible ill-advised things on line they’d be very busy. I also understand why people don’t say anything. The police come and question the person and he usually knows who said something. The police leave and now that person is in the crosshairs.
Probably a huge percentage of threats are never acted on. My personal view is, if I get threatened I believe it. For years I had my very own stalker, a married man living next door. His behavior was bizarre. Although I had hours of video of him coming onto my property, coming home during the day just so he could drive up my driveway several times, the DA said, “Men don’t stalk men.” They refused to prosecute. I moved 40 miles away and he continued to occasionally sit in front of my house (apparently masturbating.) I got a license to carry concealed and I carry everywhere. Finally, he started stalking the people who bought my house. They sold out in six months at a huge loss. Then he went after the next people. I haven’t seen him in years. But I stay current in my shooting abilities.
I said something and the sheriff made it much worse. They showed him my video and simply told him to stop doing it. Needless to say that really set him off. He knew they wouldn’t do anything and I guess having them involved made it more exciting.
Creepy.