STUDENT THREAT ASSESSMENT PROTOCOL
Why does a private Christian school need this?
Schools of any kind represent soft targets in the mind of many potential attackers. They may feel assured of easy access, high body counts, emotional impact, and media exposure. School security capabilities should be robust and comprehensive; this standard can only be achieved if threat assessment is part of the formula. A threat assessment team provides an informed, central clearing house for information from within the student body, parents, staff, and the community to intercept potential indicators of targeted violence before it happens. In addition to the active shooter scenario, threat assessment teams can help identify custodial interference risks and other non-lethal threats to the safety of the school. Threat assessment is an extremely critical aspect of the overall security operations at a school.
Who gets trained?
When training schools we focus our efforts on the administrators, counselors, security staff, and clerical staff. These people will likely form the core of the assessment team with the addition of law enforcement and other members of the community. CSS will show you how this team can then provide awareness training for other staff and families.
What if our students are all great kids from loving families who we know well?
Things change. Families, kids and adults alike, can experience dramatic psychological responses to economic changes, medical issues, cultural events, and so on. Not everyone operates with the same level of resilience to these stressors. Families can also be involved in indirect situations that have the potential for violence that spills over to the school. Furthermore, the threat assessment process as we see it involves broad community relationships. As relationships grow through the process, it becomes more likely that other agencies and professionals may intercept signals that relate directly to the safety of your students.
If we all ready have protocols for lock down in the event of an emergency is this necessary?
Lock downs are an important security response, but still a reactive one. Even a lock down response is precipitated by some indicator of danger or already-occurring event. Don’t be caught thinking that when something bad happens you can just lock the doors. Too often, threats are already inside before they are detected, and by then it is too late.
We believe it is safer (and more compassionate) to detect overwhelming stressors in a person’s life and intervene early, than wait for them to proceed too far down the path to targeted violence.
If it is so important, why is it the first time I am hearing of it?
Threat assessment is a very common term among law enforcement and security professionals today, and it is a wonderful development that this approach to violence prevention and security is becoming more well-known. However, the formal process of threat assessment has only emerged as its own field since the work of the U.S. Marshals, Secret Service, and the LAPD’s efforts. All of these agencies compiled their findings rather recently in the 1990’s. It is in the last decade or so that threat assessment has become part of best practices in the security industry and even more recent that churches have begun to adopt serious and comprehensive security measures.
For more info. contact Info@churchsecuritysolutions.com
Church Security Articles
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Protecting Your Church from Crime and Violence »
Church Security Solutions, LLC. (CSS) has nationally recognized threat assessment experts that train church staff and volunteers in how to identify a threat before it becomes a tragedy.
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Is Your Church a Safe Church? »
With proper security measures in place, a church or religious organization can deter or prevent a potential incident from happening, said security experts.
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“Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers.”
1 Peter 5:2
