By Greg Mellen, Behind The Badge
For several years now, there has been rising concern about the mental health of school-aged children. Increasingly, we are seeing the traumas brought on by isolation, technology, and untreated mental issues being played out on and around school campuses, sometimes with tragic consequences.
School violence, particularly gun violence, has become an ever-present concern on campuses nationwide and is every parent’s nightmare. The rise of these tragedies has brought terms like “behavioral threat assessments,” “targeted violence,” and “school hardening,” into the educational lexicon — not to mention “lockdowns” and “active shooter drills.”
For parents, it is a frightening landscape. Public safety sites such as SafeOC can be a valuable tool in helping parents and children understand and deal with potential threats. SafeOC is part of the Department of Homeland Security’s If You See Something, Say Something initiative to raise public awareness about terrorism and violence.