What Warning Signs Were Ignored in the Oxford Shooting?

What can we learn from the Oxford shooting?

What can you do to prevent an active shooter event?

In the case of the Oxford High School shooting, there were multiple warning signs that lead up to the attack and many reports from parents, students, and teachers. Had these signs been properly reported, it’s possible that the event could have been prevented.

The shooter was making concerning posts on social media, had access to a gun, was searching for ammunition in class, leaked his plan on social media the night before, and on the day of drew an image of someone being shot. The school called in a meeting with the shooter’s parents that day, but the shooter was sent back to class and carried out the shooting later in the school day.

After all these warning signs, what went wrong?

Media reports and preliminary aspects of the investigation indicate that school officials failed to follow guidelines, including a thorough investigation. It appears that the student was never questioned about whether he was in possession of a gun. There was probable cause to search his backpack and locker, but reports indicate that was not done. Despite the parents' resistance, the student should not have been returned to class until a comprehensive investigation and a mental health assessment was conducted. According to a new lawsuit, the school didn’t inform the campus safety liaison of the shooter’s behavior and the liaison wasn’t included in the meeting.

Oxford High School is now facing $100M in lawsuits.

Learn more about the events of the Oxford shooting.

Active Assailant Prevention Is Possible When You See the Signs

It’s extremely rare that active assailants “just snap.” The typical assailant will exhibit observable behavioral signs of violence before a violent event takes place. This is called the “pathway to violence.” If Oxford schools had listened to the parents and students who reported the shooter’s behavior on Nov. 16th and taken preventive action, the event may have been prevented.

Active assailant prevention can be achievable by reporting questionable behavior. Don’t leave anything up to chance. TPOP’s active shooter preparedness training can teach you to recognize violent behavioral indicators and respond accordingly. The training also features situational awareness, the Run, Hide, Fight methodology, response to injury, and more.

YOU can prevent events like these from occurring at your workplace. Let’s talk about preparedness training for your company today.

Was the Oxford Shooting Preventable?

What warning signs were acknowledged?

How could this incident have been prevented?

On November 16th, parents reached out to the Oxford Superintendent and Principal to express concerns over the shooter’s behavior. The same day, the Superintendent claimed there was no threat to the high school. The shooter posted a photo of his new gun on social media. After the shooter was searching for ammunition in class, a teacher reported his behavior. The school called the shooter’s mother, but she didn’t answer. On the day of the shooting, November 30th, a teacher reported a drawing the shooter had created that portrayed someone being shot. A meeting with the shooter’s parents was called, but the shooter was sent back to class after.

The shooter’s interest in ammunition, access to a gun, social media posts, and drawings were cause for serious concern. The students, parents, and teachers who reported the shooter’s concerning behaviors all did the right thing.

Learn about the mistakes the school made here.

Active Assailant Prevention Is Possible When You See the Signs

It’s extremely rare that active assailants “just snap.” The typical assailant will exhibit observable behavioral signs of violence before a violent event takes place. This is called the “pathway to violence.” If Oxford school officials had listened to the parents and students who reported the shooter’s behavior on Nov. 16th and taken preventive action, the event may have been prevented.

Active assailant prevention can be achievable by reporting questionable behavior. Don’t leave anything up to chance. TPOP’s active shooter preparedness training can teach you to recognize violent behavioral indicators and respond accordingly. The training also features situational awareness, the Run, Hide, Fight methodology, response to injury, and more.

YOU can prevent events like these from occurring at your workplace. Let’s talk about preparedness training for your company today!

The Probability of Active Shooter Events

Unsure about implementing active assailant training?

Is it worth training for an event that might never happen?

While your risk may seem low, risk shouldn’t be calculated based just on the probability of an event. It’s more properly defined as a combination of probability, vulnerability, and consequences.

It’s true that the probability of an active shooter event happening to you is low, however, active shooter events are increasing each year. There were 611 mass shootings in 2020. There have been 652 mass shootings in 2021 so far according to the Gun Violence Archive, and with one more month remaining in the year, this number will likely increase. Even the lockdown of 2020 didn’t slow this rising trend. According to SHRM, “Despite the initial lockdown response to COVID-19, the number of active shooter incidents rose 20 percent in 2020, and it is already 20 percent higher in 2021. The growing number of attacks continues a disturbing and dangerous decades-long upward trend.” So, while your probability of an active shooter in your workplace may be low, it is rising.

Learn more about active assailant online training and risk.

Superior Active Assailant Online Training

Typical stand-up training fails to reach everyone, and the learning isn’t documented. TPOP’s “Think and Survive” active assailant online training can be taken anywhere, anytime, on any internet enabled device, and your employees’ progress is documented and tracked. Topics include situational awareness, de-escalation techniques, Run, Hide, Fight, response to injury and more. Taught by subject matter experts such as nationally recognized safety and security veterans, including former officials from the DHS, FBI, law enforcement, SWAT, behavioral psychologists, and trauma EMTs, the course contains small videos with quizzes at the end of each section to ensure comprehension.

Let’s talk about preparedness and your organization’s risk. Contact TPOP today.

How Vulnerable Are You?

What is the true measure of risk for an active shooter event?

Are you considered especially vulnerable?

Risk isn’t just about probability. Risk= probability x vulnerability x consequences.

In terms of vulnerability, there are many "soft targets" that are vulnerable to an attack. The active assailant’s goal is to kill as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time. Their prime targets are less secure places with large numbers of people. These include workplaces open to the public and public spaces, such as retail stores, entertainment venues, restaurants, and houses of worship.

Here are some stats from the FBI’s 2000-2019 Active Shooter Report:

• Out of a total of 333 active shooter events examined in the last 20 years, 96 were at businesses open to the public
• 44 occurred at schools
• 36 at retail locations
• 14 at restaurants
• 15 at houses of worship

If you’re wondering about your potential vulnerability, ask yourself, do you work in or patronize any environment like retail stores, restaurants, grocery stores, theaters, performing arts venues or any mass gathering?  If you answered “yes,” you may be vulnerable and at greater risk.

Learn how active assailant online training can help decrease your risk.

Superior Active Assailant Online Training

Typical stand-up training fails to reach everyone, and the learning isn’t documented. TPOP’s “Think and Survive” active assailant online training can be taken anywhere, anytime, on any internet enabled device, and your employees’ progress is documented and tracked. Topics include situational awareness, de-escalation techniques, Run, Hide, Fight, response to injury and more. Taught by subject matter experts such as nationally recognized safety and security veterans, including former officials from the DHS, FBI, law enforcement, SWAT, behavioral psychologists, and trauma EMTs, the course contains small videos with quizzes at the end of each section to ensure comprehension.

Let’s talk about preparedness and your organization’s risk. Contact TPOP today.

Understanding Post-Pandemic Workplace Violence

Did you know the rude behavior you see in workplaces can lead to violence?

What’s the cause of this behavior?

Stress and unmanaged emotions have always had the potential to lead to violence, but the behaviors we’re seeing today are impacted by  COVID stress, rising perceptions of inequality, and political and cultural divisions.

According to TIME, “It’s not a coincidence… that much of the incivility occurs towards people who are in customer service industries. ‘People feel almost entitled to be rude to people who are not in a position of power,’” says a psychologist. During COVID, this power dynamic shifted. Employees enforced mask regulations and could tell customers to leave. To work within the pandemic, many businesses had to adjust their operations and still aren’t operating “normally.” Employees must enforce these new operations too, sometimes angering their customers. The anger shown in these encounters is “displaced anger. They’re angry about other things but they take it out in those encounters.”

It also doesn’t help that people aren’t getting what they need. Supply chains are bottlenecked, wages are low, the housing market is unattainable, and mental health care has few openings. This can increase stress and negative emotions in Americans. Political and cultural divisions have contributed, too.

Decorum and professional behavior in politics has decreased on both sides of the spectrum and members of the public are no longer filtering themselves. “Some researchers point to the increase in crude public discourse, both from political leaders and in online discussion—which encourages outsized emotions—as the gateway rudeness that has led to the current wave.” Their rude actions are “meant to call attention to what they see as this kind of unjust policy, some discrimination, or some infringement on some other right.”

How do workers feel?

According to the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), nearly 1 in 7 workers feel unsafe at work, and rightfully so. In 2017, 1,800 people suffered non-fatal workplace violence injuries and 800 died. Many workers will experience workplace violence, considering that one-fourth of American workers said their current workplace had been the scene of at least one incident.

What Can You Do? Provide Workplace Violence Prevention Training

Now, more than ever, workplace violence prevention training is a must. It can protect your staff, prepare them for potentially violent situations, and mitigate risks. Not to mention, you have a duty to protect your staff as set forth in the OSHA General Duty Clause.

With TPOP’s workplace prevention training, your staff will learn to de-escalate situations, recognize workplace violence, be aware of their surroundings and much more. If there’s anything TIME made clear, it’s that these behaviors aren’t going away anytime soon.

Prepare your workplace for violence. Contact TPOP today.

Is Workplace Violence the New Normal?

Have you noticed that people seem to have shorter fuses?

How is that affecting the service industry?

Today, a growing number of service employees' shifts involve being yelled at, threatened, and often being forced to de-escalate conflicts. It seems that at any inconvenience, no matter how small, the new response is to act with anger. While unpleasant to deal with, these behaviors aren’t dangerous, right?

Wrong. The rudeness service workers are facing currently can escalate into violence, and this isn’t likely to go away anytime soon. According to an article from TIME, “Americans appear to have forgotten their manners, especially with those whose job it is to assist them.” People are experiencing massive escalations, such as a Philadelphia fast food customer pulling out a gun after being asked to order their food online and a California woman attacking a flight attendant, knocking out her teeth.

How can rude behavior lead to violence?

People usually don’t just snap, they often exhibit concerning behaviors over time before becoming violent. This is called “the pathway to violence.” Some early behaviors you might see in the service industries are paranoia, belief in conspiracies (can include COVID and mask wearing conspiracies), blaming others – such as employees when they aren’t at fault – intense anger and hostility, threatening employees, harassment, and creating unnecessary confrontations. These are all signs of imminent violent behavior.

What Can You Do? Provide Workplace Violence Prevention Training

Now, more than ever, workplace violence prevention training is a must. It can protect your staff, prepare them for potentially violent situations, and mitigate risks. Not to mention, you have a duty to protect your staff as set forth in the OSHA General Duty Clause.

With TPOP’s workplace prevention training, your staff will learn to de-escalate situations, recognize workplace violence, be aware of their surroundings and much more. If there’s anything TIME made clear, it’s that these behaviors aren’t going away anytime soon.

Prepare your workplace for violence. Contact TPOP today.

Non-Physical Workplace Violence

When you think of workplace violence, do you think of physical assault?

Did you know that some workplace violence can be non-physical?

Some examples of non-physical workplace violence:

• Verbal threats — Examples of verbal threats are “watch your back,” or “I know where you live.”
• Harassment — Can include unwanted attention or actions that persist, even after you have told the harassing person that their behavior makes you uncomfortable.
• Intimidation — Examples of intimidation – when a coworker sabotages your work, interferes with your ability to work properly, or corners you.
• Bullying — Can include spreading rumors, talking about coworkers in a negative way, pulling targeted pranks, or giving undeserved criticism.
• Stalking — Can be as simple as someone hanging around your workspace for no work-related reason, purposefully leaving the workplace at the same time as you, or following you home.

To learn more about workplace violence preparedness, visit our website.

Learn the Realities of Workplace Violence with TPOP’s Workplace Violence Preparedness Training

Workplace violence affects workers, clients, customers, and visitors. Provide a safer environment for all with TPOP’s workplace violence preparedness training. This training will teach you and your staff about situational awareness, verbal de-escalation, response to injury, and more.

Don’t let the risk outweigh your preparedness. Believing that it won’t happen to you or your organization can significantly reduce your ability to prevent, manage, or survive a violent situation.

Contact TPOP today to more confidently face workplace violence.