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The threat of gun violence in schools necessitates attention across the spectrum of emergency management mission areas: prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery. While mitigation, response, and recovery represent critical aspects of emergency management, this guide focuses on considerations for schools specifically in the areas of prevention and protection. This resource… (read more)

This book documents Virginia Tech's experience in developing and implementing a behavioral threat assessment process in the time following the campus shootings on April 16, 2007. In the course of building its behavioral threat assessment capacity, Virginia Tech created considerable documentation to support its Threat Assessment Team and related efforts. This documentation, which appears in… (read more)

When incidents of school violence occur, they leave a profound and lasting impact on the school, the community, and our nation as a whole. Ensuring safe environments for elementary and secondary school students, educators, administrators, and others is essential. This operational guide was developed to provide fundamental direction on how to prevent incidents of targeted school violence, that is… (read more)

This webinar reviews the components and procedures of behavioral threat assessment, which is recognized as current best practice to prevent violence on campus. Marisa Randazzo, Ph.D., principal and co-founder of SIGMA Threat Management Associates, LLC, provides a checklist of best-practice components, discusses how to evaluate current threat assessment programs, establishes screening questions to… (read more)

After the tragic shootings at Virginia Tech in 2007, many colleges and universities recognized that having threat assessment and management (TAM) teams in place to address potentially threatening behavior and situations among faculty, staff, and students on campus was a best practice. This article focuses on three main aspects of TAM teams on college campuses and what risk managers can do to… (read more)

Ensuring the continuous operation of government and the safety of the personnel and citizens who enter government facilities on a daily basis is an essential part of securing our homeland. To enhance prevention efforts in this area, the U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) studied 43 attacks targeting federal government facilities and officials that occurred between 2001… (read more)

This document is a tool to aid colleges and universities in developing awareness of various issues and concerns relating to students in institutions of higher education and in developing or revising policies, protocols and procedures suitable to your unique environment. Making decisions about students who may be distressed, suicidal, or threatening to others can be difficult on many levels. An… (read more)

These interactive tools are meant to support individuals and planning teams at schools, school districts, and institutions of higher education (IHEs) in assessing their knowledge of concepts fundamental to emergency management, and in creating and evaluating emergency operations plans (EOPs). Schools and IHEs can use these tools to create new plans as well as to revise or update existing plans… (read more)

Does your campus have the ability to address threatening behavior from students, employees, or external sources? Does your process meet current best practices for campus violence prevention? Campus behavioral threat assessment relies upon collaboration and partnerships in the community to identify and respond to at-risk behaviors. In this webinar, Dr. Randazzo provides an overview of best… (read more)

This publication is the product of an ongoing collaboration between the Secret Service and the Department of Education. The focus is on the use of the threat assessment process pioneered by the Secret Service as one component of the Department of Education's efforts to help schools across the nation reduce school violence and create safe climates. This guide sets forth a process for identifying,… (read more)

This guide has been developed to give higher education institutions a useful resource in the field of emergency management. It is intended for community colleges, four-year colleges and universities, graduate schools, and research institutions associated with higher education entities, both public and private. The guide may be used in a variety of ways: as a starting point in researching the… (read more)

This resource document provides several publications and web resources on a variety of security topics to include targeted attacks, managing threatening situations, creating safe school climates, security assessments, and the Roundtable presentation.

This is a second edition of a publication known as FEMA 428 that provides the design community and school administrators with the basic principles and techniques to design a school that is safe from potential physical attacks and, at the same time, offers an aesthetically pleasing design that is functional and meets the needs of the students, staff, administration, and general public. This… (read more)

This training program, developed by noted campus safety and threat assessment experts, is the first ever national curriculum that focuses on a multidisciplinary approach to threat assessment. It has been specifically designed for higher education administrators involved in threat assessment on their campuses, including campus public safety and local law enforcement; faculty; staff; student… (read more)

This training program, developed by noted campus safety and threat assessment experts, is the first ever national curriculum that focuses on a multidisciplinary approach to threat assessment. It has been specifically designed for higher education administrators involved in threat assessment on their campuses, including campus public safety and local law enforcement; faculty; staff; student… (read more)

This guide will allow threat assessment team members to explore and practice threat assessment through small and large group exercises using pre-developed case studies. This guide will also strengthen team members' comprehension and application of the threat assessment principles proscribed in "Campus Threat Assessment Training: A Multidisciplinary Approach for Institutions of Higher Education,"… (read more)

The sport of running, including marathons, traditional distance races, and other non-traditional race events, attracts annual participation from millions of race runners across the U.S. These events draw even larger numbers of spectators, making safety and security a top priority for race organizers, public safety, and host communities. This guide is intended to assist event operators and their… (read more)

Interscholastic athletic events are an important part of American culture and include participation from millions of students and spectators. Due to the large crowds in attendance, there are a host of potential risks and threats that must be addressed to ensure the safety and security of people, property, and infrastructure. This guide provides a comprehensive overview of important planning… (read more)

The purpose of this guide is to recommend polices, practices, and technologies aimed at identifying vulnerabilities, mitigating risk, and protecting critical assets. It may be used as a reference for those responsible for the design and development of safety and security plans and procedures. The guide outlines key issues and implementation strategies for nine topical areas, including: game/event… (read more)

The purpose of this living guide is to document, through professional collaboration, a collection of vetted best practices to assist those responsible for safety and security at collegiate sports events. The National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security (NCS4) at the University of Southern Mississippi hosted the second annual National Intercollegiate Athletics Safety and Security… (read more)

The purpose of this living guide is to document, through professional collaboration, a collection of vetted best practices to assist those responsible for safety and security at marathon and endurance events. The National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security (NCS4) at the University of Southern Mississippi hosted the first annual National Marathon/Endurance Events Safety and Security… (read more)

The National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security (NCS4) at the University of Southern Mississippi hosted the first annual National Intercollegiate Athletics Safety and Security Summit on January 28-30, 2014. Representatives from university and college athletic administrations, athletic conferences, Bowls, and public safety agencies addressed current safety and security issues facing… (read more)

This report examined whether any differences exist between lone actor terrorists and mass murderers. Using a series of bivariate and multivariate statistical analyses, researchers compared demographic, psychological and offense-related behavioral variables across and between 71 lone actor terrorists and 115 solo mass murderers. The fundamental distinction between the two groups, motivation,… (read more)

A successful threat management process consists of basic elements, each integral to the others. They compose the rules of contemporary threat management and demonstrate how the judiciary can identify, assess, investigate, and manage risks of violence to judicial officials. Following these rules will allow the judicial threat manager to implement an effective threat management process.

This document is focused on identifying strategies that contribute to preventing, not predicting, incidents of targeted violence that result in mass casualty events. It is the result of a multi-agency collaborative conference held at Quantico, Virginia, in August of 2013. Seven promising avenues for prevention that emerged from this effort: 1) Prepare preparation is essential - a mass… (read more)

This guide is the culmination of nearly two years of work following a 2015 gathering of multidisciplinary experts and the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit. The purpose of this gathering was to discuss solutions to reduce attacks such as mass shootings and other forms of targeted violence including stalking, terrorism, or ambush attacks on law enforcement. This publication represents the results of… (read more)

The FBI's objective for this initiative was to examine specific behaviors that may precede an attack and which might be useful in identifying, assessing, and managing those who may be on a pathway to deadly violence. By articulating the concrete, observable pre-attack behaviors of many active shooters, the FBI hopes to make these warning signs more visible and easily identifiable. This… (read more)

This guide provides recommendations in the development of plans to respond to an emergency and outlines how Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) can plan for preventing, protecting against, mitigating the impact of and recovering from emergencies. The guide translates lessons learned from the Administration's work on national preparedness to IHEs. The guide introduces new approaches to… (read more)

The guide provides recommendations in the development of plans not only to respond to an emergency, but also outlines how organizations can plan for preventing, protecting against, mitigating the impact of and recovering from these emergencies. It translates lessons learned from the Administration's work on national preparedness to the school, IHE, and house of worship contexts, ensuring that… (read more)

The priority of the EFC is to collect and disseminate research and other information on effective practices regarding the planning, design, financing, procurement, construction, improvement, operation, and maintenance of safe, healthy, and high-performing facilities for Pre-K through higher education in order to: help education stakeholders increase their use of education facilities to turn… (read more)