Jim Leach began his law enforcement career in 1975, and he shares his insights as a Criminal Justice Consultant for Golden Media Group. He has helped develop security policies for many schools.  

There have been two reported incidents involving threats of violence targeting schools in West Tennessee in the last few weeks—one in Parsons and the other in Obion County. An arrest was made in Decatur County. The threat in Obion County was determined not to be a legitimate threat.

There are two good considerations we see in these cases. Obviously, the most important fact is that no one was hurt. Another notable detail is that both cases came to light through communication between citizens and law enforcement.

Too many times, after the fact, a witness comes forward to say they saw or heard something that might have indicated that the perpetrator was considering attacking the school. The witness said nothing because they did not believe the person making the statement about killing a teacher, or typing the list of potential victims, or taking pictures of the school entrances, or whatever, was sincere about hurting anybody. The common statement is something like, “Well, you know, I heard John say he was going to kill Jimmy and Bobby, but, I figured it was just John running his mouth.”

I have written books researching school violence and workplace violence in general, and in every situation that I am aware of, something akin to what I described above has occurred. In far too many cases, lives were lost that might have been saved.

The number one rule about threats is this: Never totally ignore a threat.

If you see or hear anything that could be considered threatening, report it to law enforcement.