Dive Brief:
- A new survey by the National School Safety and Security Services found a 158% increase in the number of threats that schools received in 2014 compared to 2013, the Denver Post reports, and some state lawmakers want harsher penalties for school threats.
- Wisconsin Republican state Rep. Ed Brooks proposed legislation "that would make a public death threat a medium-grade felony," while Connecticut state Sen. Tony Hwang wants to reintroduce a bill that would "beef up the state's threatening laws, making them more serious felonies."
- Arkansas, Delaware, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Virginia, and Washington already have laws addressing threats at schools, but some other states do not.
Dive Insight:
Recently, schools in both Los Angeles and New York City received threat hoaxes via email. Each responded differently: “LA reacted by shutting down the entire district, while New York dismissed the warning as an amateurish hoax and held classes,” ABC News reported.
Regarding Los Angeles’ closures, the New York Times wrote, “The decision here threw the lives of millions of people — students, parents, teachers — into disarray and sent a wave of concern across an already tense region.” The two false alarms are now reported to have been related.
Fears stemming from terror and mass shootings commonly result in more police being stationed in schools, a move that concerns some onlookers over the potential militarization of schools. For instance, such moves in San Bernardino, CA, have resulted in school police arresting 30,000 students since 2005. That arrest rate is 10 times the national average.
Also worth considering: The vast amount of resources that have to be utilized in responding to threats.
In Cary, NC, one school board member claims that local schools “have had some level of threat incidents just about every week.” Raleigh Police Department police responded to 14 bomb threats at Wake County schools between March 29 and Dec. 14, 2015, WRAL reported.