This past summer I was with the USA Software Team as a Behavioral Threat Assessment  vendor at the Association of Threat Assessment Professionals (ATAP) meeting in Anaheim, CA.  I had heard Sue Klebold speak at a Ted Talk so, when I saw she was a keynote speaker, I was ecstatic.

SUE KLEBOLD HAD COURAGE

This beautiful woman had the courage to present herself and her story about her son Dillon. Along with Eric Harris, he shot and killed 12 students at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo. Sue has subsequently tried to make sense of what happened. As a result, she has devoted her life to suicide prevention and mental health.

Her audience was 1,000 threat assessment and law enforcement professionals.  I felt privileged to listen to this woman because I knew the words would be raw and authentic. The message that stuck with me was this:

HER MESSAGE

“I should have listened more.” Looking back, Sue said she believes Dillon was being bullied at school. He and his friend Eric had been arrested for tampering with the lockers and this brought the two of them together as a team. He became depressed and suicidal. However, he was able to cover this to his own family while he planned with his friend.

DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE

I have to admit, listening to this mother speak about her son and what she has gone through, certainly gave me a different perspective. Moreover, it was very emotional.  She got a tearful standing ovation from me and the rest of the 999 people in the room.

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The National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) studied 41 actual incidents of targeted school violence that occurred at K-12 schools in the US from 2008-2017. This is 20 years of research. 20 years that we as parents, teachers, law enforcement etc, have been doing little except hope it doesn’t happen again. Until Parkland. And Sandy Hook. And Santa Fe. And now, Saugus. Time for wringing our hands is over. In short, we CAN make a change to save our children.

The NTAC analysis is timely and in a nutshell it has painfully revealed the following:

The 10 NTAC Findings on Targeted School Violence

1. There is no profile of a student attacker, nor type of school
2. Attackers usually had multiple motives, the most common being a grievance with a classmate
3. Most attackers used firearms, and most often obtained from home
4. Most attackers had experienced psychological, behavioral and or neurological/developmental delays or cognitive deficits
5. Half of the attackers had interests in violent topics
6. All attackers experienced social stressors involving their relationships with peers and or romantic partners
7. Nearly every attacker experienced negative home life factors
8. Most attackers were victims of bullying, which was often observed by others
9. Most attackers had a history of school disciplinary actions, and many had prior contact with law enforcement
10. All attackers exhibited concerning behaviors. Most elicited concern from others, and most communicated their intent to attack (aka, “leakage”).

There is a solution!

Behavioral Threat Assessment (BTA) is a proven solution that can be used to help mitigate threats. BTA can help identify the warning signs outlined in the Secret Service findings and help prevent targeted school violence. The ball is rolling. It would be doubtful, at this stage of the game, to hear people are not preparing to manage these scary situations.

We can help!  Call 800-872-1931

Behavioral Threat Assessment legislation has been making the rounds in most states.  Typically, there is language around the use of a “documentation instrument” to assist in tracking the assessments.  Let’s take a closer look as to how documentation actually works.

As a result of the school shootings, there have been a number of experts who have emerged in the industry. Some are educators, some are from law enforcement and, most notably, the U.S. Secret Service. 

Documentation

Documentation tools have been developed to track and collect important data whenever there was an threat/incident at a school. For example, was the subject male or female, location and date of incident, etc. In the past, the goal was to collect data, but that thought process has shifted recently. The importance of collecting meaningful data beyond the “what, when and where” has become the Behavioral Threat Assessment Model. These models help track/identify warning signs, unresolved grievances, bullying and so on, that can assist in mitigating the threat. They have been the backbone of the majority of behavioral threat assessment trainings that have taken place nationwide and been adopted by many school districts.

It’s clear that teachers and administrators are not case managers. In fact, the school system as a whole was never set up to case manage its students.  There are school counselors who assist with a variety of issues with teacher input, but there has been minimal documentation requirements overall.

This is all new!! 

I just filled out the forms from one of the more popular threat assessment “instruments”. Great questions but…the first segment, the Threat Form took me ½ hour to complete. That did not factor in other records review, like a prior incident, interviewing the subject, the target, and the witness, and creating a Behavior Intervention Plan.  I didn’t get to the mental health assessment.  That has to be done by another specialty. It includes a parent interview and then Behavioral Threat Assessment Team discussion and tracking of the student and their behavior.  And more documentation…

Oh, did I mention I had multiple phone calls and people leaning in my office doorway with documentation worthy details about other cases.  I am writing, writing, writing as fast as I can, hoping to remember what they said?!

The point is, assuming one gets it all down, at the end of the day, it typically goes in a nice manila folder, labeled with a new name sticker with the first few letters of the last name and Student ID number for privacy.  All neatly alphabetized in my locked file cabinet. Yet, who else knows of all my efforts??? So 1985.

The information is critical, but the communication of the information among BTA team members is the only hope of truly managing and mitigating a threat.

By now you must be using these forms and understand the time they take. Some schools are reporting up to 10 assessments per day!  Leaving spaces blank may not serve you in the event a threat is actually carried out. Like the form says, “you will want documentation to show that you made a defensible effort to assess the threat.”

A Better Way to Document. And share…

There is a better way to document, still use these important models, and share this data. If the above scenario is familiar to you, please give USA Software a call today and at least get a Demo. 1-800-872-1931.

Were you the one picked to get the 411 on available BTA software to bring back to your team? If you were, here are 7 highlights behavioral threat assessment software your team may want to know about:

1. Keeping this kind of information by hand, on paper, is so 1985 and dangerous!! Risk cannot be kept in a desk drawer…

2. You’re on the behavioral threat assessment team and a teacher. How are you supposed to know what the SRO (police) is doing?  This is the way to communicate effectively. 

3. This is a browser-based utility, so your team can access all information, any time day or night… from your phone, your laptop, whatever you got, cuz nothin’ ever happens at a convenient time.  You’ll be in the loop, no matter what.

4. We got Analytics! Like when the Superintendent calls and says, “BTW, I’m on my way to a board meeting, how many behavioral threat assessments have we done to date?” Yikes, but wait… you have the answer, pronto! With charts and graphs! 

5. Early Warnings: How about getting an email every Monday morning listing who has had 4 or more assessments over the past 180 days? Or which schools in your District have had 10 or more assessments in the last week?

6. Accountability: We track the team assignments. Who was supposed to call to make sure a student went to anger-management classes? Did they do it?  Was someone on vacation? Who will take the responsibility to follow up?

7. Complete Case Management: Dates, times, tasks, interventions, outcomes, pix, pdf docs…the whole thing. Right there at your fingertips.

There it is, just hit copy and print. Now, get to your meeting. lol