MILWAUKEE — Speak up, speak out. That’s what the Wisconsin Department of Justice is reminding students, parents, and staff to do if they see concerning behavior at schools.
This comes with an uptick in reported school threats following Monday’s mass shooting in Madison.
The DOJ’s Office of School Safety says it has received over 80 tips about school threat concerns in the last two days. That’s more than double the amount it received during the same period last year.
The Office of School Safety calls it a contagion effect. Its leader says it’s common to see a surge of school threats following a school shooting.
One day after Wisconsin’s first mass school shooting devastated the Madison community, its police department is already investigating swatting threats that came on Tuesday morning.
"Let me be clear on this point, making false threats is a crime and we are working with the district attorney to prosecute these crimes as information is gathered,” said Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes.
Watch: Wis. DOJ sees uptick in school threat tips following mass shooting in Madison
When a threat is believed to be imminent, the DOJ says it’s crucial to call 911. But another resource available in Wisconsin is called ‘Speak Up, Speak Out’.
The DOJ launched the 24/7 confidential tip line four years ago to allow people to come forward with concerns about student safety.
Look at the yellow line on this graph. It shows a significant spike in tips the DOJ received last school year compared to previous years.
While bullying is consistently the number one complaint, the DOJ says 114 people called last school year to report concerns about a planned school attack.
Flash forward to this school year and the DOJ says it saw a spike in tips during two weeks in September. It came just days after a mass school shooting in Georgia.
More than 130 calls came from students at more than two dozen school districts. Those tips informed the DOJ about alarming social media posts or planned school attack concerns. From there, the DOJ gets local police and school district leaders involved.
"Targeted violence is preventable,” said DOJ School Safety Director Trish Kilpin.
On Monday, Kilpin said Speak Up, Speak Out is prepared for a similar spike in the coming weeks.
"Often after an incident such as that that happened today here in Madison, people start to think about ‘I should have reported this, I have knowledge that someone could be planning a school attack,’ and they need to have a place to report that. So, we encourage the community at large, students and families to report to SUSO, or their local law enforcement or their school officials if they have concerns somebody is planning a school attack,” she said.
If you need to contact the DOJ about school safety concerns, you can do so by calling 1-800-SUSO-1. You can also fill out a complaint here.
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