From Presidential Protection to Campus Security: A Brief History of Threat Assessment in North American Schools and Colleges

Abstract

This article provides a brief history of the development of behavioral threat assessment within colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, from the original Secret Service model used to evaluate threats against the U.S. president, to its adaptations for workplace settings and United States and Canadian secondary schools, to its current configuration in U.S. and Canadian colleges and universities. The article reviews the emerging standard of care for higher education institutions with respect to having a campus threat assessment process and includes recommendations for how college mental health professionals can provide vision and expertise to a campus threat assessment team.

Keywords:

• campus threat assessment
• campus violence
• higher education
• school threat assessment
• school violence
• threat assessment history
• violence prevention

Notes

1. Targeted violence is intended violence against an identified or identifiable target (Fein & Vossekuil, 1998). Unlike more general, impulsive violence, targeted violence is predatory and planned in advance (Meloy et al., 2011.)

2. A similar focus on campus safety occurred in Canada following the Dawson College shooting in 2006, with greater calls for action coming after the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007 (Ontario Association of College and University Security Administrators, 2008).

3. The new higher education risk standard is designed to help colleges and universities identify, evaluate, and mitigate a broad range of risks to higher education institutions and to help them better allocate resources and prepare for emergencies. It includes specific language recommending threat assessment teams.