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Gov. DeSantis rolls out plan to try to identify potential mass shooters, announces mass shooter Unified Threat Assessment Strategy

Florida law enforcement officers to be trained to spot potential mass shooters DeSantis Unveils Mass Shooter Threat Assessment Program

ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida will be the first state in the country to implement a mass-shooter threat-assessment program for law enforcement officers, Gov. Ron DeSantis says.

Florida law enforcement officers will be trained to spot potential mass shooters before they act under a program rolling out this summer. 

“Today we announce the unveiling of our behavioral threat assessment and management strategy program,” Gov. DeSantis said.

"In the Parkland case, there were clearly multiple times where action could've been taken to disrupt this individual - they may have not known he was actually planning that day but clearly there were times where he could've had interventions," Gov. DeSantis said.

Ryan Petty, who was recently appointed to Florida's State Board of Education, lost his 14-year-old daughter, Alaina, in the Parkland shooting.

“I believe we can go from reacting to tragedies like Parkland to preventing them,” Petty said.

"The Secret Service has been using threat assessment to protect our elected leaders like the president for years," Petty said, "and I think if it's good enough for our elected leaders, it's good enough for our children."

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the initiative alongside the state’s top law enforcement officer at a news conference outside Orlando with Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Richard Swearingen from Walt Disney World's Swan and Dolphin resort.

The program is called the Unified Threat Assessment Strategy, which DeSantis says will help educate officers about warning signs that could identify potential mass shooters and what to do to intervene.  Officials hope the program is a step toward preventing tragedies such as the Parkland school shooting.  

Under the program, Florida will be the first state in the nation to have a statewide plan for identifying threats and taking action to intervene.

“These incidents don’t just happen in schools, they happen in other places of worship our public spaces our businesses so it’s very important we tackle this problem in all the venues where we work and live,” said Commissioner Rick Swearingen with FDLE

Behavioral threat assessment and management (BTAM) is a fact-based, systematic process designed to identify, assess, and manage potentially dangerous or violent situations. School safety experts, law enforcement officials, and the United States Departments of Education, Justice, Secret Service, and Federal Bureau of Education (2017, 2018) have cited research indicating that before a student commits an act of violence on a school campus, warning signs are usually evident. Research and best practice guidelines provided by these entities also indicate a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach to behavioral threat assessment and management can identify effective interventions and supports that mitigate a potential threat and help the person(s) toward a more positive pathway.

 The law enforcement threat assessment training will start in July (2020) for recruits and then will be rolled out to other law enforcement officers.  Training will be offered to patrol officers and deputies, investigators and law enforcement executives.

Section 1001.212(12), Florida Statutes

By August 1, 2019, develop a standardized, statewide behavioral threat assessment instrument for use by all public schools, including charter schools, which addresses early identification, evaluation, early intervention, and student support.

(a) The standardized, statewide behavioral threat assessment instrument must include, but need not be limited to, components and forms that address:

1. An assessment of the threat, which includes an assessment of the student, family, and school and social dynamics.
2. An evaluation to determine if the threat is transient or substantive.
3. The response to a substantive threat, which includes the school response and the role of law enforcement agencies.
4. The response to a serious substantive threat, including mental health and law enforcement referrals.
5. Ongoing monitoring to assess implementation of safety strategies.
6. Training for members of threat assessment teams established under s. 1006.07(7) and school administrators regarding the use of the instrument.

Behavioral Threat Assessment Instrument

Memo to Superintendents on the Statewide Behavioral Threat Assessment Instrument (PDF)

Florida Standardized Statewide Behavioral Threat Assessment Instrument (Word)

Behavioral Threat Assessment Instrument FAQ (PDF)