Dec. 21, 2023 – HOOVER, Ala. – The best way to combat hoax threats of violence in schools is to prevent the hoaxes from disrupting schools any more than necessary. That’s the advice from the National Association of School Resource Officers, a nonprofit organization with expertise in school safety and security.
“When schools close or evacuate for a communicated threat that isn’t credible, the perpetrators get exactly what they want,” said NASRO executive director Mo Canady.
Perpetrator motives can vary from delaying an exam for which a student is unprepared to deriving pleasure from creating chaos.
“Regardless of motive, the less disruption a school allows,” Canady continued, “the less perpetrators will be encouraged to send hoax threats.”
Canady explained that evacuating a school that’s in session is particularly problematic.
“For many threats, including bomb threats, students are usually safer in their classrooms than outside the building,” he said. “If a real attacker knows, for example, that a school will evacuate to a football stadium, they could be waiting to attack students there.”
In these cases, schools that have carefully selected, specifically trained school resource officers on campus have a distinct advantage. These officers can greatly reduce the time required to determine if a threat is a hoax.
Hoax threats disrupt schools around the US at a rate of at least 30 incidents per week, according to news reports NASRO has compiled.
NASRO suggests that all school administrators consult with law enforcement agencies at the local, state and federal levels, including the nearest FBI and ATF offices as they develop plans for responding to communicated threats. The ideal plans will reduce the likelihood of the most disruptive actions, including cancelation of classes, evacuations and early dismissals.
Such plans should include providing as much information as possible to parents as soon as possible. Without official information, parents will believe and react to rumors that paint pictures worse than the actual situation. Parents who don’t receive trustworthy information from school administrators often fill school parking lots and try to remove their children.
After a school creates its plan, it should invite all potentially affected agencies and organizations to participate in a tabletop exercise to assure plan familiarity and find areas for improvement.
Hoax bomb threats, shooting threats and other empty threats of future school violence are far from harmless. In addition to lost instructional time, they can result in emotional trauma for all members of the school community.
These threats can also create overtime expenses for public safety agencies, which must respond as if the threat is real, until proven otherwise.
NASRO hopes that its recommendations will help communities reduce the disruptions and other negative effects hoax threats cause.
About NASRO
NASRO is a nonprofit organization for school-based law enforcement officers, school administrators and school security/safety professionals working as partners to protect students, school faculty and staff, and the schools they attend. NASRO’s national offices are in Hoover, Alabama. The organization was established in 1991. For more information, visit www.nasro.org.
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