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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*

My Story My name is Rick Shaw and I am the founder and CEO of Awareity, and the originator of the proven and multi-award-winning “TIPS prevention platform”. My background includes more than 30 years of real-world business related experience, combined with several years of extensive research. My business experience includes performing numerous types of assessments (risk, threat, information security, physical security, safety, compliance and others) and prevention efforts across many different types and sizes of organizations. My research involves reviewing hundreds of post-incident reports – the facts and findings released after investigations, tragedies and lawsuits. Combined, these efforts have helped me to identify common “gaps,Read More →

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Most schools today have an online form for students to report bullying, but where do those reports go? In Awareity’s 2014 Student Safety Report, students claim only 17% of the time are reported incidents getting better. Westfield Washington Schools in Indiana is taking a more comprehensive and proactive approach by implementing the TIPS prevention platform. Last year, Westfield Washington Schools had the honor of participating in a presentation by David and Tina Long, of Everything Starts with One and featured in the “Bully” movie, in which they spoke about their son’s tragic suicide. Tina shared that she believed the TIPS platform may have helped preventRead More →

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A NASCAR accident on opening weekend has provided several valuable lessons learned, but only if you are listening and ONLY if you take actions to proactively prevent future incidents. Kevin Harvick gets proactive prevention: “It’s a reaction from the racetrack unfortunately,” Harvick said. “I hit the same wall a little further up last year at this particular race and kind of voiced my opinion, and unfortunately I was just a dot on the chart and there was no reaction.” “Now there’s a reaction from the racetrack. Hopefully this is a lesson learned. You don’t want to have a reaction. Racetracks have to be proactive andRead More →

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Post-incident reports and overwhelming evidence-base data validate most incidents (from data breaches to policy violations to violence) and tragedies were PREVENTABLE. However, even with all these lessons learned, the same common gaps and disconnects lead to more and more failed prevention efforts. Failure to “collect, assess and connect the dots” across multiple locations, departments, silos and individuals make it difficult for organizations to proactively and predictively prevent incidents, lawsuits and tragedies. Whether you are just starting your risk management planning process or reviewing your current capabilities, Awareity’s experienced team can provide the expertise and advice to improve your prevention efforts and protect your reputation andRead More →

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Thirty-four percent (34%) of students say they are aware of an individual who poses a risk to their school, according to Awareity’s 2014 Student Safety Report. The 2014 Student Safety Report unfortunately validates that many of the same overall risks and liabilities identified last year still exist. The results reveal students observe and know about things most school administrators don’t. Students are talking about concerning behaviors (hurting others, self-harm/cutting themselves, suicidal ideations, bringing weapons to school, drugs/alcohol and other risks) among themselves, but unfortunately these valuable pre-incident indicators are not being shared with the right people – threat assessment and prevention teams. Awareity’s online studentRead More →

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Nebraska – Students today face ongoing challenges with bullying, weapons, drugs/alcohol, violence and more. Disconnects between youth and school educators cause many of these student issues to unfortunately slip through the cracks. Allen Consolidated School District in Nebraska is implementing a new tool to try to increase prevention and give their students/parent an effective and secure way to share concerns. Allen Schools have implemented Awareity’s multi-award-winning TIPS (Threat assessment, Incident management & Prevention Services) prevention platform to help enhance student/staff communications and improve overall school safety. TIPS is an innovative solution equipping students, teachers, staff, parents and community members to anonymously report bullying, cyber bullying,Read More →

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The 2014 Student Safety Report unfortunately validates that many of the same overall risks and liabilities identified last year still exist. The results reveal students observe and know about things most school administrators don’t. Students are talking about concerning behaviors (hurting others, self-harm/cutting themselves, suicidal ideations, bringing weapons to school, drugs/alcohol and other risks) among themselves, but unfortunately these valuable pre-incident indicators are not being shared with the right people – threat assessment and prevention teams. Click here to request your copy of the report “Clearly school administrators face mounting obligations and liabilities” said Rick Shaw, CEO of Awareity. “The bottom line is concerning behaviorsRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*

Cover ups – attempts to prevent others from discovering the truth about a serious mistake, moral or ethical failure, abuse, assault or numerous other illegal actions and crimes have existed for many years. In the past, people who became aware of a cover up had limited options to come forward and report the truth. Most (if not all) of the conventional reporting options, such as contacting management, calling law enforcement, telling a trusted adult or calling a company ethics line, failed to provide anonymity or even confidentiality. More recently, organizations are offering online reporting forms, text reporting and apps, but none of these options areRead More →

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“In the absence of a system capable of identifying (Lopez) as a threat, and because the unit was unaware and unable to address the variety of stressors in (Lopez’s) life, Fort Hood was not able to prevent the shooting,” lead investigator Lt. Gen. Joseph E. Martz said. Connecting the dots… The Army’s post-incident investigation report of the April 2 shooting rampage came to the conclusion that the Army did not have the right tools to prevent the shooting…even though there were pre-incident indicators in the days, weeks and months prior. While officials found no single factor that prompted Spc. Ivan Lopez to go on aRead More →

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Are security cameras making organizations safer? Security cameras have been utilized for many years and because of mounting incidents and tragedies (and growing terrorism concerns) around the world, organizations are installing more and more security cameras. As the number of security cameras have increased, are incidents and tragedies decreasing at the same ratio? Sadly, most organizational leaders are not connecting the dots with what security cameras were designed to do, can do and cannot do. Connecting the dots… A security camera’s primary function is to record what happened, record forensics that can be analyzed after an incident (bullying, workplace violence, robberies, drug deals, assaults, shootings,Read More →