Safe and Sound Schools, a national school safety non-profit, released its State of School Safety Report 2019, in collaboration with Boston University College of Communication.
On October 27, 2018, a shooter entered Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and opened fire – killing 11 people and injuring seven more.
In the recent words of London police commissioner Cressida Dick, social media serves to “rev people up,” so the global push to crack down on extremist and violent internet content is unsurprising. In March, the European Commission demanded that tech firms remove terrorist posts within one hour of their appearance. Similar calls have come from corporations and commentators, alike. These forms of pressure are important but focused only on the problem of social media serving as a tool for spreading violent ideas and propaganda. Disturbingly, social media use itself may be predisposing individuals to commit terrorism, shootings and other forms of violence by impacting user behavior and well-being.
Officers in North Texas for the first Texas Intelligence, Cyber, & Counterterrorism Conference watched a demonstration of a drone assisting in a mock active shooter situation. The drone hovered a few feet in front of officers as they made their way down a hallway, offering live feedback to the officers about what they were about to encounter.
