SEATTLE — The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said the number of school threats is increasing, which is creating challenges for law enforcement agencies. This is because even if a threat is fake, it has to be thoroughly investigated and treated as real until proven otherwise.
“With the proliferation of social media, the number of tips, or complaints, or threats has skyrocketed,” said Kelly Smith, the assistant special agent in charge for the criminal branch of the Seattle division of the FBI.
He said all threats, whether they are a hoax or real, need to be investigated.
“We have to take all of them seriously,” Smith said. “We can't miss a single one, so every threat that we receive gets investigated.”
Even if a threat ends up being a hoax, the time and resources put into the investigation come at a cost, even if it is a cost that can't be calculated.
“We get asked, 'what's the cost of this?'" Smith said. "Well, it's impossible to measure because we are pulling resources away from cases that, otherwise, we would be investigating."
Smith said this is not only a resource issue for the FBI, but it is a problem for local law enforcement departments who have to investigate school threats with already minimal resources.
“Our local partners are already shorthanded and understaffed,” Smith said. “And so, addressing threats just takes more resources away from that, and the community has seen that.”
The community plays an important role when it comes to school safety. Smith asked parents to educate kids about using social media responsibly.
“One of our biggest untapped resources is the public,” Smith said. “And we need the public, we need parents, we need teachers, we need other students to be educated about the dangers of this.”
The FBI asked the community to always report a threat, even if you think it may be fake, because it is always better to be safe than sorry.
“You don't want to be the person that says, ‘Oh, my gosh, I saw that and I didn't take it seriously,'" Smith said. “Because that's a heavy, heavy weight to bear. So, we say it all the time, but you know if you see something, say something.”
The FBI wants to remind people that if they ever believe there is an immediate threat to a school, it is always best to call 911.