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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*

Allow me to get straight to the point with the facts on what is missing and why we are (but should not be) seeing record levels of shootings, violence, suicides, and other incidents. What is missing: Communities, schools and workplaces are not equipped with the appropriate tools, training, and resources. What is missing is validated by the 2023 National Threat Assessment Report (NTAC) that said: In short, NTAC’s examination of the attacks contained in this report indicates that targeted violence is preventable when communities are equipped with the appropriate tools, training, and resources to intervene before violence occurs. – 2023 Mass Attacks in Public SpacesRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*

#1 Almost everyone in schools, higher education, workplaces, and communities (except the evil doers) prefer preventing incidents over responding to incidents.  Preventing incidents from happening requires a coordinated and focused community effort on pre-incident intervention and prevention actions with at-risk individuals by First Preventers. The First Preventers Prevention Platform empowers and equips community resources to take proactive pre-incident prevention actions. #2 Soaring numbers of at-risk individuals are responsible for record levels of shootings, violence, sex assaults, suicides, and other incidents that require more effective and coordinated actions by community resources to identify, help, and intervene with each and every at-risk individual at the right times and onRead More →

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In: Uncategorized

Getting Started What is Pre-Incident Prevention? Pre-Incident Prevention is the process of identifying Pre-Incident Indicators and then connecting and acting on them to address an escalating individual BEFORE an incident occurs. Why are Pre-Incident Prevention tools and training critically needed? According to the National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) within US Secret Service, ALL 180 attackers in 173 mass attacks exhibited “Pre-Incident Indicators” before the attacks, but communities lack appropriate tools and training to achieve Pre-Incident Prevention. I already have a reporting system in my community, I’m good right? Not quite! Collecting Pre-Incident Indicators from potentially hundreds of Community Sources from multiple reporting system options andRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*

In the aftermath of tragedies, families and victims often have no other recourse but to sue the organization (school, business, government, etc.), the shooters/family, or other third parties. Lawsuits and settlements over the years have been trending up and up: 2000 Columbine School Shooting Settlement                 $2.5 Million 2012 Virginia Tech Shooting Settlement                         $11.1 Million 2018 Michigan State Settlement (USA Gymnastics)         $500 Million 2020 MGM Concert Shooting                                         $800 Million 2022 Oxford School Shooting (filed not settled)              $200 Million 2022 Uvalde School Shooting (filed not settled)              $27 Billion Class Action Other post-incident settlements settled by the Department of Justice/FBI: 2021 Charleston, SC Church Shooting                             $88Read More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, School Safety

It is a great honor to share this press release from the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) as they are proactively bolstering safety, security, and health in their schools utilizing Awareity’s award-winning prevention platform. I want to also recognize OSDE’s leadership for engaging with our team in in-depth discussions regarding the recurring problems that are leaving student, faculty, staff, and schools at risk to increasing shootings, violence, abuse, bullying/cyberbullying, suicides, and soaring liabilities too. Recurring problems like pre-incident indicators are almost always available before incidents occur, but the indicators (warning signs, leakage, behaviors, history, etc.) are not being collected from scattered “sources” across theRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*

I was recently out shopping and as I returned to my truck parked in the parking lot, I noticed something shiny in one of my tires.  Upon further inspection, I had a screw in my tire. A screw in your tire is not a good thing.  I started thinking about all the unwanted consequences that could occur if my tire goes flat.  What if the tire went flat while I was driving or parked or out at night? The issues of changing the flat tire in the Vegas heat or on the highway; or calling and waiting for road for service. The unwanted interruptions andRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Education, First Preventer, Health Care, indicators, News, Prevention, Risk Management, School Safety, Video, Workplace Violence

This message is probably the most important message for LEADERS of schools, higher ed, organizations, and communities that I’ve ever shared in any of my videos. When you don’t know what others know, bad things can happen and we see examples of bad things happening on a DAILY basis. To stop the bad things from happening, a new Prevention Model is needed, because more security and hardening is getting ready to react to an attack, not preventing an attack. To all LEADERS, when you don’t know what 20+ years of research data has exposed about proactively PREVENTING incidents and tragedies, your organization and community areRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*

Acts of violence and acts of evil are increasing across the nation. Why? The short answer points to the soaring numbers of at-risk individuals (due to increasing stressors leading to more grievances and escalations leading up to attacks). As more at-risk individuals escalate and commit more acts of violence and evil, conventional plans, strategies, and tools are becoming overwhelmed and even less effective in keeping up with the increasing incidents and challenges. First Responders are also becoming more and more overwhelmed reacting and responding to more and more incidents and tragedies. Reactive Prevention vs. Proactive Prevention Reactive prevention options react and respond to an attackerRead More →

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In: Uncategorized

If you are like me, keeping our children safe is a top priority, so I was very interested in reading what the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) and the National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) found after studying 41 incidents of targeted violence in schools from 2008 to 2017. The USSS/NTAC study revealed several valuable lessons learned, including valuable findings regarding the prevention of targeted violence tragedies: The analysis suggests that many of these tragedies could have been prevented All attackers exhibited concerning behaviors. Most elicited concern from others and most communicated their intent to attack. The finding that ALL attackers exhibited concerning behaviors is huge becauseRead More →