The operational guide, which was released by the U.S. Secret Service in digital format in July 2018, provides direction to school personnel, law enforcement officers, and other public safety professionals, regarding the creation of a targeted violence prevention plan.
Such plans outline protocols and procedures for schools on how to create multidisciplinary threat assessment teams, establish central reporting mechanisms, identify student behaviors of concern, define the threshold for law enforcement intervention, outline investigative and risk assessment procedures, and identify intervention and management strategies for decreasing the risk of a targeted attack.
The Director of the U.S. Secret Service, Randolph D. Alles said now is the right time for schools around the nation to build their own targeted violence prevention plan, and that he hopes the research done by U.S. Secret Service will help them accomplish this important task.
"With the creation and distribution of this operational guide, the U.S. Secret Service sets a path forward for sustainable practices to keep our children safe, extending our expertise in the field of threat assessments to provide school officials, law enforcement personnel, and other public safety professionals with guidance on 'how to' create a targeted violence prevention plan," Alles said.
The U.S. Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center researches and publishes reports on a wide array of topics related to the prevention of targeted violence in direct support of the USSS core protective mission. Since 1999, NTAC has been congressionally authorized to conduct research, training, and consultation on the prevention of targeted violence, to include school-based attacks.
In addition to schools, the operational guide will also be sent to Secret Service field offices around the country. Digital copies of the operational guide and a supporting brief can be found on the U.S. Secret Service website at www.SecretService.gov.
-- United States Secret Service