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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*, 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*, Connect the Dots, Risk Management, School Safety, Threat Assessment Team, Warning Signs

How many times have you read a headline or story about an incident or tragedy and it mentioned how warning signs and red flags were missed, ignored, or not acted on? How many times have you had an incident at your organization and found out afterward that others were aware of warning signs and red flags before, but you and your team were not aware of them? Even though more than enough warning signs and red flags were observed, leaked, reported, and available before most incidents and tragedies, prevention efforts still failed again and again. Are you asking yourself why and how you can makeRead More →

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In: Rick's Notes, School Safety, Threat Assessment Team, Warning Signs

A lot of schools, organizations, and communities are focusing on threat assessment teams (TATs) right now, are you equipping yours for success? In the DHS School Security Guide (2018) they state that “The importance of detecting and addressing concerning behavior, thoughts, or statements cannot be overstated. In fact, preventing violence by detecting and addressing these red flags is more effective than any physical security measure.” Our data supports this fact, does your threat assessment team have the tools to support this fact? Let’s face it, could your surgical team be successful with a plastic knife? Don’t wait, it’s time to give your Threat Assessment TeamRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, First Preventer, Incident Reporting, Prevention, Risk Management, School Safety, Threat Assessment Team, Workplace Violence

I am proud to share this new Case Study featured in April’s issue of Security Management magazine (an ASIS publication) that features Awareity’s client, Captain Kevin Griger of the Sarpy County Sheriff’s Office in Nebraska. The leadership of Captain Griger is next level in how Threat Assessment Teams in schools and organizations, as well as entire communities, can proactively intervene, disrupt, and prevent incidents before they happen.  See some of Captain Griger’s quotes from the case study below: Threat Assessment Teams “As people come up on the radar, one way or another—whether through the school or through anonymous notification—our threat assessment team then sits downRead More →

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In: Campus Safety, Education, Prevention, Rick's Notes, Risk Management, School Safety, Security, Video

Are you tasked with keeping students safe but you don’t afford an SRO or more SROs? There’s a better solution for threat assessment teams, watch now! Looking for more information? Click here or use the form to your right to reach out and we’ll be in touch with more information! Real people connecting the dots, who could ask for more?  Read More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Rick's Notes, School Safety, Threat Assessment Team, Video

Surgical Teams need the right tools. SWAT Teams need the right tools. Football Teams need the right tools.  To get the best results and the right results, Threat Assessment Teams need the right tools too. Evidence reveals very unfortunate and dangerous gaps with Threat Assessment Teams not having the right tools. According to the DHS/Secret Service report on 28 mass shootings between January and December 2017 from March 2018: Over three-quarters (of perpetrators) made concerning communications and/or elicited concern from others prior to carrying out their attacks. On average, those who did elicit concern caused more harm than those who did not.  In the 28 massRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Education, Incident Reporting, Prevention, School Safety, Threat Assessment Team, Video

2019 includes the one-year anniversary of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre and the 20-year anniversary of Columbine High School massacre… and unfortunately way too many other anniversaries of massacres and other violence in schools. What has changed since these massacres?  What hasn’t changed? Why, even with all the data and “solutions” are we not preventing more massacres, violence, and other tragedies in schools? Do you know what the Columbine High School post-incident report and the Marjory Stoneman Douglas post-incident report have in common? Do you know what the Department of Homeland Security recommends in their guide: 12 School Security Guide for Preventing and ProtectingRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Campus Safety, Education, First Preventer, Prevention, School Safety

Enough IS ENOUGH! How to Think Different to Prevent School Shootings and Violence Enough is Enough! Different thinking is needed to prevent school shootings and violence. Different thinking, different strategies, and different tools are needed based on overwhelming evidence, research-based data, and success stories proving PREVENTING school shootings and violence is possible. Preventing school shootings (and other acts of violence) is what everyone wants, so HOW do schools and communities work together using different thinking to PREVENT school shootings and violence? Read the Full Article Here >Read More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Connect the Dots, School Safety

September was a very interesting month and a very good month for connecting the dots – including international dots. Transcending Boundaries Together & Pilot Program On September 11, I boarded a plane headed for Trinidad and Tobago, more specifically Port of Spain. My trip to Trinidad was to be the keynote speaker for the Transcending Boundaries Together with a focus on “Violence Prevention: An Integrated Community Approach”. It was an honor to be part of this international conference focusing on preventing violence and an honor to share the stage with Dr. Patricia Elder who is the founder and CEO of Elder Associates Limited. Dr. ElderRead More →