Weapons Possession and Vandalism Response Tips
Our nation’s schools and workplaces should be safe havens for teaching, learning, and working free of crime and violence. Any instance of crime or violence not only affects the individuals involved, but also may disrupt the educational and/or workplace process, affect bystanders, and the surrounding community. For increased safety, one should consider developing and initiating an MOA (memorandum of agreement) with local police departments. Doing so would allow for school, work, and law enforcement to set expectations and guidelines on how to handle these potentially dangerous threats. As always follow your policies and local/state laws.
School staff members should keep in mind that more often than not, when a firearm is brought on school grounds, it is not meant to terrorize others, or to engage other in gang related violence. Rather, in most cases the weapon has been brought to school property to impress others or “show off“ to friends and classmates. Nonetheless, reports involving weapons must be taken with seriousness and require a prompt and decisive response.
Discovery and Identification
Should you receive a report of a weapon on your property or on the way to your property, or the threat of a weapon being issued in a threat against the school, company, a staff member or a student, please take the report very seriously and with urgency. Should you have access to a security, safety, or school resource officer, notify them immediately. Try and ascertain as much detail around the weapon itself and or its location. Examples:
“Do you know if it is currently on campus or home?”
“Has the weapon been on campus before?”
“Who else knows?”
“Have you seen the weapon? Describe it.”
General Guidance
Respond in a timely manner: With weapons possession and vandalism one must consider the associated risk of the report and or immediate nature of an associated threat. Don’t delay in responding to the report.
Take the report seriously: The reporter may be telling you because he or she is very scared or may have seen something online. Many violent acts are revealed online before the activity. Ask if she or he can send you a screen shot or picture if there is a threat using a weapon or a post of a person with a weapon making a threat. Do your best to try and listen to gather the facts and educate on the seriousness.
Speak to unintended consequences: Let the reporter know that there can be consequences in possessing and or bringing a weapon to a campus and the potential lethal situation it could create.
Reporter (3rd party): Determine if this is a self or 3rd party report.
If it’s a third-party report, ask for a name. Let them know that you want to help this person and need to reach out to them to support them.
“What have you seen or noticed about the person you are speaking about?
“Has their appearance changed? Attitude?”
“Do you have any pictures associated with the weapon and or vandalism?”
“What do you think is the reason for he or she to bring this weapon to school?
“Is he or she a victim if something i.e. bullying, cyberbullying? Do you have any details about this (including screen shots)?”
Tips for Interaction
This type of interaction requires building trust with the reporter. Be patient but persistent as time may be of the essence.
If the reporter is hesitant, let them know what a great person they are to be reporting this.
If someone reports a vague report e.g. “Joe brought a gun to school today”, try to gather more information and determine more details.
“How do you know that person has a weapon? What type of weapon?”
“What does the weapon look like so I can identify it?”
“Who else knows? Did he she show it to you?”
“Is this the first time or has this been going on for a while?”
“Is this on or off grounds?”
Consider different details including a picture or video
Coaching
Victims of bullying appear to be much more likely to bring a weapon to school, according to a new study published in the journal Pediatrics. Authors of the study used Centers for Disease Control data from more than 15,000 students and found that 20% of high schoolers surveyed had been targets of bullying within the past year. Researchers also found that 4% of all students admitted bringing a weapon to school in the past month. CDC data on bullying in schools nationwide suggests that it is likely that more than 200,000 victims of bullying have carried a gun or knife to school in the last 30 days.
It was not bullying alone that drove students to violence, the authors said, but rather three factors that directly linked victims to a higher likelihood of bringing a weapon to school: involvement in physical fights at school, skipping school due to feeling unsafe, or previous physical threats or injuries by a classmate. If a victim of bullying suffered all three of these additional risk factors, the prevalence of weapon carrying skyrocketed from 5% to 46%. Express acceptance and concern. Avoid sermonizing, arguing, problem-solving, giving advice.
If the threat is no longer exists, and there is an opportunity to uncover causes such as bullying:
It is important to convey an attitude of concern and understanding.
Praise the person for coming forward to report this serious matter and that you are dedicated to getting whomever the help they need.
Ask open-ended questions to gather information:
“What a good friend you are to come forward.”
“Can you tell me anything else before I approach this person that may help me to help them?”
“I really want to help/him/her you right now but need more information to do so.”
“What can I do to help you/him/her right now?”
Resource
Legal Disclaimer
This material is made available for education purposes only as well as to give general information and general understanding of current issues, and not to provide specific legal or process advice. This material should not be used as a substitute for your specific safety or legal advice from a licensed professional safety officer or attorney in your state.
This is not meant to be used, nor should it be used, as your safety procedure. For documentation of your safety procedure consult your safety resources at state, district, or school level as appropriate. STOPit is not responsible for any safety issue reported.