Smart Safety: School Shootings and Covid-19

Tom Czyz is the CEO and Co-Founder of Armoured One, a New York-based tactical defense firm known for safeguarding kids from active shooters and attacks. Did you know that May 2020 was the first month without a school shooting since 2002? Armoured One is leading an effort to voice important concerns over the national mental health implications of young Americans during and after quarantine.

 

In the video, Mr. Czyz shares his insights as an expert on tactical defense and from Armoured One's years of active shooter and school safety assessments, as well as advice for parents, administrators, and educational leadership on how to be better prepared.

 

Some of the current indicators that this is a threat to addressed:

• Mental health experts fear that the children and teens who are stuck in damaged homes during the pandemic are experiencing intensified abuse and/or isolation.
• Individuals quarantined in broken homes, especially those with pre-existing behavioral issues and limited access to professional help, are at greater risk for psychological degradation during the COVID-19 crisis.
• There was an increase in gun and ammunition sales following COVID-19 lockdown, making weapons more readily available in homes that don't have adequate weapon storage.
• Limited healthcare resources during the government-mandated quarantine.
• Increased screen time with little supervision.
• Students have had unlimited time to plan a shooting.

You can also learn more in this interview that I had a chance to do.

1) In the video, you list several reasons why schools may need to be on heightened alert this fall, one of them being isolation and mental health due to Covid-19. What role does mental health play in school shootings?

According to a study conducted by the U.S. Secret Service in 2019 (attacks at schools from 2008-2017): Most attackers had experienced psychological, behavioral, or developmental symptoms: The observable mental health symptoms displayed by attackers prior to their attacks were divided into three main categories: psychological, behavioral and neurological/developmental. 50 percent of the attackers had received one or more mental health services prior to the attack. Mental health evaluations and treatments should be considered a component of a multidisciplinary threat assessment, but not a replacement. Mental health professionals should be included in a collaborative threat assessment process that also involves teachers, administrators, and law enforcement. 

Mental health evaluations and screenings have significantly diminished during school closures and remote learning. Threat assessment teams have also not been as effective as pre-COVID conditions, and may have not met at all as priorities shifted during remote learning. 

An FBI survey of 63 active shooter events in the U.S. between 2000-2013 found 25 percent of suspects had been diagnosed with a mental illness, and 62 percent had a mental health “stressor,” or what the agency identified as a sign that the shooter “appeared to be struggling with (most commonly) depression, anxiety, paranoia, etc. in their daily life in the year before the attack.”  

2) How can educators be alert to potential mental health issues with their students?

Educators and students have faced many challenges during the pandemic. One of the biggest challenges is the loss of face-to-face instruction and interpersonal communication. Teachers, bus drivers, coaches, administrators, etc. have prevented numerous attacks on their schools in the past by recognizing warning signs and changes within their students. 

3) What do parents need to do to help make sure their kids stay safe?

Parents need to stay engaged, monitor their behavior and changes in behavior, encourage less isolation-driven activities (phone/computer/gaming), remain positive, encourage SEE SOMETHING SAY SOMETHING. In the 2020 NSSPA Thwarted Attack Study, half of the prevented attacks were because students spoke up and/or reported threats to administration, SRO, or police departments. 

4) How can schools and parents strike a balance to be appropriately prepared without creating extra fear or anxiety in students?

School shootings have become an unfortunate norm in our society. Striking a balance depends on the collective approach from school leaders and parents. Creating layers of security, not making the schools prisons, leveraging technology and integrating security systems, continuing the use of visitor management, keeping doors locked, vetting all guests, utilizing anonymous tip lines, using proper lines of communications/transparency between schools and parents (such as leveraging technology to send text message notifications, automated phone calls, emails regarding safety/security related issues).