Secret Service Issues Guide to Identify Threats for Schools

Secret Service Issues Guide to Identify Threats for Schools

A threat assessment program create standards for teachers and peers to identify threats before they happen.

  • By Sydny Shepard
  • July 13, 2018

In an effort to cut down on the amount of on-campus violence schools have seen in the past few years, the U.S. Secret Service has released a new "actionable" guide to prevent U.S. school attacks.

The Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center has researched school attacks for nearly 20 years. Lina Alathari who led the team that created the guide told CBS This Morning that the guide takes schools through a step-by-step guide that allows them to set up a threat assessment program that can help administration intervene before school shootings happen.

"This guide takes you through actionable step-by-step instructions of how to do that," Alathari said, "How to set up a threat assessment program in school, which constitutes establishing a threat assessment team that's multidisciplinary, identifying concerning and prohibiting behaviors, having a mechanism for reporting behavior and doing a training for stakeholders."

Here are the guide's steps to "Creating a Comprehensive Targeted Violence Prevention Plan"

  1. Establish a multidisciplinary threat assessment team.
  2. Define concerning and prohibited behaviors.
  3. Create a central reporting mechanism.
  4. Determine the threshold for law enforcement.
  5. Establish assessment procedures.
  6. Develop risk management options.
  7. Create and promote safe school climates.
  8. Conduct training for all stakeholders.

Alathari says uniform application of the program is key.

"Just from talking to schools across the country, people have different practices," Alathari said. "I think what this guide will do is really promote where you can have best practices. Where you can have a mechanism in place so that these signs are not missed."

About the Author

Sydny Shepard is the Executive Editor of Campus Security & Life Safety.

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