Fort Worth PD hopes its public service announcement encourages family talks about the seriousness of making a school threat.
FORT WORTH, Texas — Parents of school-aged children are urged to watch a public service announcement being revived by the Fort Worth Police Department. The main message: to encourage conversation about the seriousness of school threats.
Reviving the PSA couldn’t come at a better time because just this week, Fort Worth police arrested a student for a school threat. The student claimed it was just a joke.
Fort Worth School Resource Officer Ethan Judd is on multiple campuses some days. He’s passionate about keeping students and teachers safe. So, it was a no-brainer when his boss recruited him for their PSA.
In the announcement, Judd says, “Threats to a school are illegal. This can cause schools to go on lockdown while students and staff shelter in place.”
Due to the recent school shootings, like the one in Uvalde, police departments across the country have adopted zero-tolerance policies when it comes to school threats. That means using the resources they have to investigate each and every threat until they can determine there is no threat.
“We treat every single threat as if it is credible. From the get-go, we immediately begin examination, call in resources,” said Judd.
Judd hopes parents will teach their children the seriousness of making a school threat.
A student, who was recently taken into custody over a school threat told Judd that the threat was a joke. That did not stop law enforcement’s investigation, which included ruling out the student didn’t intend harm and had no weapons at home.
“We made contact with the student and placed him under arrest, took them into custody,” Judd said. “Any way that a threat is communicated, whether it’s a verbal, written, social media video, text message. Any way that you can communicate… if they make a threat of that nature, it will be completely and fully investigated by us.”
Recent cases also include a Trinity High School student who was arrested after classmates overheard a school threat.
In another case, Arlington officers responded after a threat at Timberview High School.
Even if students don’t intend a threat to be taken serious, the cause and effect are great, according to investigators who work to discredit the threat.
“They cause a lot of panic. They cause a lot of frustration. They cause a lot of worry. In this time where everyone’s mental health is strained from COVID, from just crime and everything going on, everybody wants to feel secure,” said Judd.
In the PSA, Judd also explains what a threat may involve:
“A person commits a school threat when they threaten any violence against any person or property with the intent to place anyone in fear.”
Federal authorities are also dealing with school threat including “swatting,” which involves multiple fake threats just to spark police responses. The FBI released a statement saying it will continue to gather, share and act upon threat information.
Judd wants students to continue to report suspicious activities, comments and information to school authorities, their parents and trusted school resource officers like himself. He also hopes the PSA results in many students and parents talking about what and what not to post or re-post online.