Incidents of School Violence: Lessons Learned and Discussion From Those Impacted

 

In closing his statement, Michael Mulhare mentioned the collaboration and free sharing of ideas and practices that occurs within higher education. "I think higher education recognized very early that you could not individually accomplish all that is needed to be done. Within state and regional organizations, athletic conference relationships, federal partners and national forums ... platforms are provided to exchange ideas, challenges and successes." Michael listed the following examples:

In her statement, Marisa Randazzo said, "The Safe School Initiative is still considered to be the landmark federal study on school shootings in the United States." She shared what was learned from that study and the model that was created to prevent school shootings in the U.S., the federal school threat assessment, "which is what we know works to prevent school shootings." The findings Marisa discussed are detailed in The Final Report and Findings of the Safe School Initiative: Implications for the Prevention of School Attacks in the United States (PDF). The U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Education also released a companion report, Threat Assessment in Schools: A Guide to Managing Threatening Situations and to Creating Safe School Climates (PDF), in 2002 that provides school personnel, law enforcement professionals, mental health professionals, and others a how-to guide to set up and operate school threat assessment teams and a step-by-step process for investigating and evaluating threats and prevent school violence.

 

To learn more about Handling Threats and Other Disturbing Behavior on Campus, join the National Center for Campus Public Safety on Tuesday, June 12, 2018 at 2:00PM ET for the first 2018 webinar in our free series, Campus Public Safety Online. We welcome back presenter Marisa Randazzo (PDF), an international expert on threat assessment, targeted violence, and violence prevention, to discuss the question facing campus public safety officers and campus administrators most often in the wake of high profile school, campus, and workplace shootings: what are we doing to keep campuses safe?

DHS Science and Technology Directorate Publishes Resource to Help Counter False Social Media Information

 

The Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate established the Virtual Social Media Working Group in 2010, which was renamed the Social Media Working Group for Emergency Services and Disaster Management (SMWGESDM) in 2015. SMWGESDM's mission is to provide recommendations to thea emergency preparedness and response community on the safe and sustainable use of social media technologies before, during, and after emergencies. SMWGESDM members are subject-matter experts from federal, tribal, territorial, state, and local responders from across the United States who establish and collect best practices and solutions that can be implemented by public safety officials and first responders. Their latest white paper, Countering False Information on Social Media in Disasters and Emergencies (PDF), was published in March 2018.

 

Countering False Information on Social Media in Disasters and Emergencies examines the motivations people have for sharing bad or false information, discusses underlying issues that cause false information, and looks at case studies that illustrate the problem. It builds on real-world case studies of several incidents to provide best practices for how agencies can counter misinformation, rumors, and false information.

 

The causes and spread of false social media content are most often caused by four issues, according to the research conducted by SMWGESDM:

The white paper examines each of these issues in depth with examples. Further, key best practices are explored and categorized by people, processes, and technology. These include partnerships, software considerations, and preparing in advance for scenarios. Additional considerations and challenges that may be encountered are also included for reflection.

 

For more information on the SMWGESDM or other documents they have published, please visit their website.

• June 26, 2018 in Grand Rapids, MI
• August 1, 2018 in San Diego, CA
• August 28, 2018 in West Columbia, SC

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