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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Campus Safety, Connect the Dots, indicators, Prevention

The most common excuse from leadership after their organization experiences an incident or tragedy is: “We failed to Connect the Dots.” The most common finding in hundreds of post-event reports after incidents and tragedies including Columbine, 9-11 Commission, Penn State, Sandy Hook, Fort Hood, Paris, San Bernardino, Orlando and others was: “They failed to Connect the Dots.” Of course the multi-million-dollar question (based on hundreds of multi-million-dollar lawsuits and tragedy responses), is why are organizations “failing to connect the dots”?? The short list of answers are: Failing to Collect the Dots – you cannot connect the dots when you don’t have dots to connect FailingRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*

How can we start identifying at-risk individuals and preventing mass shootings, violence, terrorism and acts of evil? Is your community connecting the dots? Check out Awareity’s Prevention Infographic to review the dangerous gaps and disconnects that exist within communities and organizations today and the 6 Essential Steps to Prevention that can start saving lives today!   To download full infographic, click here. For a more in-depth look at a community-based approach to violence prevention, click here. Or to review our recent webinar discussing strategies your community can implement today, click here.Read More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*

On December 23, 2015 parts of Ukraine were without power and the blackout was due to black hat hackers using the sophisticated BlackEnergy trojan horse malware. (click here for full story) The BlackEnergy trojan was able to disable parts of Ukraine’s power grid leaving organizations and neighborhoods in the dark…are you, your organization and your local power grid utility paying attention? The BlackEnergy trojan also delivered a version of KillDisk that overwrites data and documents with random data and can make the Operating System unbootable…are you paying attention? And AGAIN…the way the black hat hackers are getting BlackEnergy into the power grid organization is usingRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*

I have had the privilege to speak about student safety at numerous Education conferences in the USA, Canada, South Korea and Japan over the past 5 years, and no matter where I am speaking, there is one question that produces the same audience response. The question and my response would go something like this… While sharing evidence-based data on student safety and reviewing lessons learned from tragic incidents like Columbine, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, Marysville-Pilchuck and other mass shootings and violence, I use post-event reports to reveal common grievances and concerning behaviors displayed by at-risk individuals BEFORE they executed their acts of evil. Most ofRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*

San Bernardino, Paris and a growing number of terror and violent acts prove over and over again why a new and better PREVENTION strategy is needed…and it is needed right now! Would you rather PREVENT violence and terror acts or REACT to them?? Using lessons learned from San Bernardino, Paris and hundreds of other attacks and tragedies, the new PREVENTION strategy requires a change in focus and it requires the right tools. Let’s start with focus – terrorism, mass shootings and others acts of evil are committed by evil people, so the new PREVENTION strategy needs to focus on identifying people who may be planningRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*

There are three things every school and every college (and other organizations open to general public) needs to pro-actively PREVENT numerous types of incidents, fears and concerns including: • Lying awake at night fearing the worst • Being overwhelmed by negative media scrutiny and social media escalations • Increasing violence, diversity, inclusion, sexual assaults, bullying and other incidents • Uncomfortable meetings with disgruntled students and parents…and attorneys • Compliance and soaring liabilities due to the lack of legal/audit-ready documentation • Constantly feeling like you are in reaction mode…over and over again • Student athlete related headlines, hazing, sexting and other related incidents • Students ruiningRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*

Since the tragedy at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, OR most every news anchor, parent, student, education leader and government leader has been asking the same question…is there a SOLUTION to prevent future tragedies like what happened at Umpqua Community College? The answer is YES, tragedies can be prevented and are being prevented. A real proven SOLUTION does exist and it is proven in the real world by real organizations. The SOLUTION for PREVENTION involves a real-time community-wide effort of continuously collecting, assessing and connecting the dots. The SOLUTION for prevention requires proven tools like those found in the “Community-based Threat Assessment, Incident Management andRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*

Data is powerful and a valuable asset for organizations. Data can make organizations leaders in their industry. Data is the best way, and arguably the only way, to prevent unwanted, embarrassing and expensive incidents, tragedies and liabilities. Simply put…you cannot prevent things you don’t know about it. Based on overwhelming data from lessons learned, evidence and extensive research; threat assessment teams (TAT) need a lot more data, more specifically community-based threat assessment teams need more community-based data, to proactively and effectively PREVENT incidents, lawsuits, tragedies and liabilities. DATA on PREVENTING Everyone agrees preventing an incident or tragedy is far better than reacting to an incidentRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Success

Switching gears back to education, Rick met with Bradley County Public Schools Safety and Security Director, Scotty Hernandez. Scotty is really leading the way in providing his school and SRO team with the TIPS secure platform to both report concerning behaviors and document all investigation efforts and daily activities to create an ongoing database of information that can be used to ensure all students are being responded to appropriately. As Scotty mentions in the interview, ensuring all incidents are tracked from beginning to end to show what steps were taken to prevent incidents from escalating provides the accountability necessary for a school community. An excerptRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Success

Moving over to the financial sector and connecting with the Chief Operating Officer for Cornhusker Bank, Steve Lindgren! Financial institutions and their customers continue to be defrauded by increased incidents of account takeover, ACH and wire fraud incidents that have led to the theft of millions of dollars. So, how can institutions meet new requirements and improve their abilities to prevent fraud and detect and respond to suspicious activities? Cornhusker Bank has been utilizing Awareity’s TIPS platform for over 9 years and continues to evolve and take advantage of all the system has to offer. They are leading the way and allowing all bank employeesRead More →