Campus and School Violence Threat Management

There is a renewed sense of urgency to keep our children and schools safe. The mass shooting at Sandy Hook in December 2012, provides a somber reminder that violent offenders remain a potential threat beyond Virginia Tech and Columbine. Threat management must attend to all educational institutions and those organizations similar to a campus environment such as hospitals and others that have open public assess. Deaths to students in Colorado, Pennsylvania, and China at the hands of outside offenders highlights that students are not the only threat sources, but that we must also protect our schools from outsiders with unique and dangerous agendas. The tragic deaths of hundreds of people, many of whom were children, in a school based terrorism incident in Russia further underscores the possible reach of terrorism. There are new dimensions of threats for school personnel, mental health, legal, and school police and security professionals to consider.

This presentation will provide attendees with an overview of cutting edge information about school and campus based threat assessment, violence prevention and intervention strategies. It will assist in understanding the unique assessment, management, criminal, and civil legal issues associated with these cases and how to keep students and staff safe while reducing one’s liability in the process. The material presented will be based on over 20 years of topic-specific experience, pre/post conviction interviews and reviews of school violence perpetrators, victims, and incidents. Participants will gain practical ideas that may be applied to their own educational setting.