[Note: The following troubling article comes from the Arizona Republic. What is the role of local, community-oriented police in these matters? Some would say “response.” I would say “prevent” and work closely with school and mental health professionals. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I think of school resource officers, even the DARE program. Not necessarily to keep kids away from drugs, but to provide a mature, respected, caring authority figure in our schools. These recent investigative findings reveal what many of us already are thinking — emotional distress and bullying is a major problem and social media is not helping. Read on…]
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According to a recent analysis by the Arizona Republic (which examined almost 2,200 reports of student gun violence threats), bullying and emotional distress are the primary triggers. This, of course, shouldn’t surprise us. But social media has further complicated the problem.
Some students see gun threats as a means of empowerment — with or without the intention to follow through on those threats. But when a threat comes in to police authorities, action must be taken. But let’s read the following report with the idea behind Goldstein’s Problem Oriented Policing; that is, how might these incidents be handled better— even prevented? Here’s some primary excerpts from the Arizona article:
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What’s behind gun threats in schools?
“Emotional distress and bullying appear to be major drivers of school gun threats that elicit a police response, according to an analysis by The Arizona Republic, which examined almost 2,200 reports of incidents in which students threatened gun violence at school…
“As school shootings grow more common across the country, students can see gun threats as a means of empowerment — with or without the intention to follow through on those threats.
“’It doesn’t take much for people to make threats anymore,’ Kingman (AZ) police Chief Rusty Cooper said…
The Republic filed public records requests to all existing Arizona police departments asking for calls for service on gun threats in K-12 schools. The request sought a catalog of incidents for almost four years ― from Jan. 1, 2019, through the date of the records request submission in October or November 2022…
“There were 2,196 known incidents involving a police response to reports of a student making a gun threat at school from 2019 to 2022, according to The Republic’s analysis. Of those, 96 involved an actual firearm on school property…
“Mental health resources, threat assessments and relationship building may help address cases in which students make gun threats while in emotional distress, behavioral experts say.
“The stakes of bullying are high, and schools must take multiple approaches that address the direct incident and work to create an environment where bullying is less likely to occur, said Chad Rose, a professor of special education at the University of Missouri. Doing that means not only addressing behaviors but equipping students with better communication and social skills, he said…
‘We’re seeing it at younger ages’
“’We’re seeing it in younger ages,” said Dr. Paula McCall, a certified child psychologist based in Chandler. “Not to say it hasn’t existed in younger ages before …’ Now, there’s more vocalization from youth and more heightened awareness among adults, McCall said… A troubled child, a repeated pattern…
“[Chief] Cooper grew up in Kingman, joined the Kingman Police Department in 1991 and took over as police chief in 2020. He says he has seen firsthand how the schools he attended and his community have changed. He points to a shift in family dynamic. ‘We’re getting more calls to police for different issues in the home. Now, we’re the first ones people call,’ Cooper said, explaining that the community, both within homes and in schools, has grown to depend on police officers to solve social issues the agency isn’t equipped to effectively handle.
“McCall suggested school workers and law enforcement ask key questions when responding to a child in emotional distress, including: What is the motive behind the child’s behavior? What’s going on in the child’s life? Sometimes, children are trying to grasp control over a situation over which they have no control, McCall said…
Bullying: A common thread in gun threats
“Bullying in schools manifests in the form of relentless teasing, derogatory social media posts, spreading rumors or physical violence. At the core of those behaviors is an imbalance of power, whether in age, stature or academic achievement, behavioral experts said.
Bullying is notable because it is an intentional behavior, said Missouri professor Rose, and a behavior that is likely to be repeated. While many bullied students don’t make gun threats, decades of research have shown that a key commonality in the experience of school shooters is that they were bullied at school.
Tarinda Craglow is a social worker at a series of alternative charter schools in the Phoenix area and chair of the Social Emotional Learning Alliance for Arizona. Bullied students turning to gun threats as a response is not surprising, she said, but certainly a signal for schools to act quickly. ‘When you’re being bullied, of course, that moves into a whole different level of: no one’s protecting me, how do I protect myself?’ she said. [Arizona law requires schools todevelop a plan to deal with instances of physical, social or emotional bullying. ]…
How school officials assess threats of violence
Sid Bailey is the Arizona Department of Education’s associate superintendent for school safety and discipline. He trains principals every year on how to respond to bullying. He defines being bullied as any time students’ concern for their safety or how they will be treated by another student disrupts their education. School officials always should take bullying seriously, he said. ‘If a student perceives they are being bullied, that is a front-burner issue for me,’ Bailey said.
“Gun threats, according to Bailey, are a separate issue and he suggests principals treat them as such. ‘When you start threatening with weapons … there is no tolerance for that,’ he said…
Experts stress it should be approached with care and compassion for the student. Schools should define concerning behavior that may not necessarily be indicative of violence but could warrant intervention, according to a 2018 Secret Service report on averting school violence. And schools should aim to intervene before a student’s behavior warrants legal consequences.
“The threshold for intervention should be relatively low so that a threat assessment team can identify students in distress before their behavior escalates, according to the report.
“Here are the signs school officials are advised to look for:
- A marked decline in performance.
- Increased absenteeism.
- Withdrawal or isolation.
- Sudden or dramatic changes in behavior or appearance.
- Drug or alcohol use.
- Erratic, depressive, and other emotional or mental health symptoms.
“If a student makes a threat, campus security experts say an effective threat assessment team is well-rounded, collaborative and prioritizes understanding underlying issues in order to resolve a crisis. Matt Liston is an instructor with the National Association of School Resource Officers. He helps provide high-level training to SROs throughout the country. Liston suggests bringing in an adult on campus who the student trusts to sit with the student during the assessment. ‘The scariest part to me … the scariest threat assessments I’ve been a part of, is when we’re looking at a student and we’re trying to find a trusted adult inside that school that the student has a relationship with,’ Liston said. ‘And we can’t find one…’
“In the Tolleson Union High School District in the West Valley, for example, students are taught schoolwide lessons on healthy relationships and communication. Students can report bullying through an anonymous line.If students are involved in bullying, they can receive disciplinary actions for threats or intimidation. The district also offers a mediation option if both involved students are on board. Students who take part in bullying can be asked to sign a no-contact contract promising not to interact with a bullied student. At the most severe level, the student can be removed from a campus…
“We always ensure students are aware of the ways to anonymously report any concern to allow for further support,” district spokesperson Joseph Ortiz said. If a student’s behavior escalates toward threatening, child psychologist McCall advised that school workers approach the child with the compassion they would toward a student threatening suicide or self-harm. Suicidal ideations and threatening behavior have overlapping elements, she said. ‘We need to stop looking at it like they’re two completely different things. Suicide risk and threat risk are very much aligned in that inner turmoil.’”
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| Read the full article at: What’s behind gun threats in Arizona schools? Emotional distress, bullying top the list |
Improving Police: A Necessary Conversation 