Deemed not credible?
With so many threats towards schools circulating on social media sites these days, why are seeing so many School Districts and Law Enforcement Agencies quickly responding with communications to parents that the threats have been deemed not credible?
Perhaps it is possible that the Districts and Agencies have advanced capabilities that allow them to make this determination quickly, but if they did then I would think we would see a dramatic decrease in school violence.
The point here is that without a prevention platform that extends into the community there really is no way to fully know the extent of these types of threats. We must look beyond relying on a hotline and hoping that someone will call in a threat, that the person answering the line will record the threat properly and then relay that message as it was received and then the authorities will then open an investigation. If we step back and think about this process, it could take days or longer for this to play out. How much time will we lose in this process - A lot, and we don’t have that type of time to lose. Secondly, if this process works out as we hope it could, that does not mean that any type of Tip will be connected to other possible indicators that may exist. This presents a huge gap in information gathering and will lead to statements like “this threat is deemed not credible”.
We have to move past and close these gaps, silos and points of disconnect that are too prevalent in our schools today.
There are templates for prevention that need to be considered by schools and organizations that can help with bringing a prevention program to reality. We can’t rely on deterrence efforts alone anymore.
This threat may be nothing more than a true hoax in the end, but without a prevention program in place, we are left with hoping that nothing happens.
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out and ask.
Jason Destein
Owner | Director of Violence Prevention Strategies
