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Threat Assessments

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It is important to prepare a threat assessment strategy so that when a threat occurs, everyone will know there is a policy and understand what actions to take. Threats are alarming statements or behaviors that give rise to concern about subsequent violence. Among the possible components of threat assessment strategies are:

1. Establish a Threat Assessment Team that would be called in to assess the credibility of, and needed response for, serious threats. The team should include school and school district administrators, legal counsel, and representatives from law enforcement. It might also include security personnel, mental health professionals, threat assessment experts, and any other person who could contribute in a meaningful way. Normally, the permanent members of the Threat Assessment Team would also serve on the School Site Safety and Violence Prevention Committee, Crisis Planning Team, and/or Crisis Management Team.

2. Define the nature and scope of threats that should and should not invoke the involvement of the Threat Assessment Team. The range of threats may include bomb threats, threats against children by parents/guardians in custody battles, personal vendettas between students or gangs, threats against teachers or staff involved in domestic conflict, threats of retaliation, efforts to intimidate, and any other type of alarming behavior that involves members of the school community or its property.

3. Establish a policy to assure that reports of threats submitted from both inside and outside the school are routed to the appropriate administrator and investigated.

4. Establish procedures for recording and monitoring threats. Guidelines pertaining to what information should be included in threat incident reports are presented below.

5. Ensure cooperation between law enforcement and school authorities in collecting and preserving evidence of threats.

6. Evaluate situations when a threat has been made and if warranted, notify the potential victims. Some threat assessment suggestions developed by the U. S. Secret Service appear below.

7. Consider the costs and benefits of providing increased protection to threatened persons. Possible actions include transferring potential victims to another school or providing them with additional means to signal distress, such as cell phones or emergency transmitters.

8. Determine what additional security measures, if any, should be put in place after a threat. Changes might include requesting additional police patrols, hiring security guards, locking doors (in compliance with fire regulations), adding video monitors, or taking other appropriate precautions.

9. Counsel potential victims about the various civil and criminal options available to them, such as obtaining a restraining order. The potential reactions of the offender should be considered in whether or not to seek a restraining order. Additional security precautions should be taken if the offender is likely to respond negatively to the intervention chosen, especially during the period immediately following the initial application of that intervention.

10. Learn what procedures should be taken to screen mail and packages left on school sites after a threat has been made. Contact the U.S. Postal Service, local police, or the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms for guidance.

11. Establish policies for releasing any threat-related information to either the school community or media, giving consideration to the potential consequences of choosing to, or not to, disseminate information pertaining to serious threats.
 


 

Threat Incident Report

School and school district policy should require students and employees to report all threats or incidents of violent behavior they observe or are informed about to the Designated Administration Representative (DAR). The DAR should take the steps necessary to complete a threat incident report as quickly as possible, including private interviews of the victim(s) and witness(es). The report will be used by the Threat Assessment Team to assess the safety of the school and to decide upon a plan of action. It should include:

  • Name of the threat-maker and his/her relationship to the school and to the recipient.

  • Name(s) of the victims or potential victims.

  • When and where the incident occurred.

  • What happened immediately prior to the incident.

  • The specific language of the threat.

  • Physical conduct that would substantiate intent to follow through on the threat.

  • How the threat-maker appeared (physically and emotionally).

  • Names of others who were directly involved and any actions they took.

  • How the incident ended.

  • Names of witnesses.

  • What happened to the threat-maker after the incident.

  • What happened to the other students or employees directly involved after the incident

  • Names of any administrators, teachers, or staff and how they responded.

  • What event(s) triggered the incident.

  • Any history leading up to the incident.

  • The steps that have been taken to ensure the threat will not be carried out.

  • Suggestions for preventing school violence in the future.

Elements of the threat incident report and any subsequent actions relating to the incident should be recorded in a tracking system for use by the DAR and the Threat Assessment Team. Such systems range from simple card files to commercially available relational databases. The tracking system, as well as all investigative files, should be kept secure and maintained separately from other records.
 


 

Secret Service Threat Assessment Suggestions

School and law enforcement officials are frequently placed in the difficult position of having to assess specific people (e.g., students, staff, teachers, and others) who may be likely to engage in targeted violence in which there is a known or knowable target or potential assailant. The following suggestions for threat assessment investigations are based on guidelines developed by the Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC). They were developed primarily for preventing the assassination of public officials so they may not be applicable to all school situations.

To identify threats, school officials are advised to:

  • Focus on individuals’ thinking and behavior as indicators of their progress on a pathway to violent actions. Avoid “profiling” or basing assumptions on socio-psychological characteristics. In reality, accurate “profiles” for those likely to commit acts of targeted violence do not exist. School shootings are infrequent and the great majority of individuals who happen to match a particular profile do not commit violent acts. In addition, many individuals who commit violent acts do not match pre-established profiles.

  • Focus on individuals who pose a threat, not only on those who explicitly communicate a threat. Many individuals who make direct threats do not pose an actual risk, while many people who ultimately commit acts of targeted violence never communicate threats to their targets. Prior to making an attack, potential aggressors may provide evidence they have engaged in thinking, planning, and logistical preparations. They may communicate their intentions to family, friends, or colleagues, or write about their plans in a diary or journal. They may have engaged in “attack-related” behaviors: deciding on a victim or set of victims, determining a time and approach to attack, and/or selecting a means of attack. They may have collected information about their intended target(s) and the setting of the attack, as well as information about similar attacks that have previously occurred.

Once individuals who may pose a threat have been identified, ten key questions should guide the assessment of the threat:

  • What motivated the individual to make the statement or take the action that caused him/her to come to attention?

  • What has the individual communicated to anyone concerning his/her intentions?

  • Has the individual shown an interest in targeted violence, perpetrators of targeted violence, weapons, extremist groups, or murder?

  • Has the individual engaged in attack-related behavior, including any menacing, harassing, and/or stalking-type behavior?

  • Does the individual have a history of mental illness involving command hallucinations, delusional ideas, feelings of persecution, etc., with indications that the individual has acted- on those beliefs?

  • How organized is the individual? Is he/she capable of developing and carrying out a plan?

  • Has the individual experienced a recent loss and/or loss of status, and has this led to feelings of desperation and despair?

  • Corroboration: What is the individual saying, and is it consistent with his/her actions?

  • Is there concern among those that know the individual that he/she might take action based on inappropriate ideas?

  • What factors in the individual’s life and/or environment might increase/decrease the likelihood of the individual attempting to attack a target?

Source: Robert Fein & Bryan Vossekuil, National Threat Assessment Center, U.S. Secret Service

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