To view this site you need Adobe Flash Player and your browser must allow javaScripts. Go here to get the latest Flash Player. FROM REACTIVE TO PROACTIVE higher risk of violence, either to themselves or others, will yield false positives, or students who raise red flags, but aren’t actual threats. “It’s a considerable problem both in terms of wasted institutional resources spent on targeted interventions and stigmatization of, or other negative impacts on, those students targeted,” he said. Proponents of behavioral intervention acknowledge that the methodology could, if abused or handled ineptly, lead to stigmatization. Crucial to the credibility of behavioral intervention programs, Sokolow said, is ensuring that assessing real threats does not inadvertently become an excuse for violating civil liberties. “Many students are loners, isolated, withdrawn, pierced, tattooed, dyed, Wiccan, skate rats, fantasy gamers or otherwise outside the ‘mainstream,’” he explained. “That’s great. That’s what enlivens the richness of college campuses. Their preferences and differences cannot and should not be cause for fearing them or suspecting them. But when any member of the community starts a downward spiral along the continuum of violence, begins to lose contact with reality, goes off their medication regimen, threatens, disrupts or otherwise gains our attention, that’s what an intervention team needs to be alert to.” Profiling, in particular, is to be avoided, according to John Byrnes, an author and lecturer on aggression management training and founder of the Center for Aggression Management, an educational consulting firm in Altamonte Springs, Fla. “Some law enforcement agencies use profiling as a means to identify an aggressor. On many campuses, it is not a good thing these days to be a poetry-writing Korean student who wears too much black and doesn’t talk much. This is profiling, and profiling is not part of behavioral intervention. Profiling, especially when violent actors come from racial and ethnic minority populations, is causing backlashes within our communities where we are striving to enhance civility and tolerance.” “The goal of behavioral assessment is to spot patterns of emerging aggression,” Byrne said. “These are culturally neutral behavioral, body language and communication indicators.” The conundrum of proactive measures is that it is easier to document the benefits of measures that respond to events and crises after they occur than those that prevent crises from happening. Advocates, however, point to rapid and positive changes in student outreach. “The nature of the benefit here is the antithesis of drama in that the whole purpose of this approach is to prevent minor problems from escalating into potentially major problems by being ignored,” observed Woodley. “A big surprise has been how easy it’s been to get people on board,” she added. “There’s a realization that being proactive is better than being reactive.” Analysis In a quick-fix culture, guns, guards and gates may garner the most short-term attention when it comes to crisis mitigation. Yet, according to Sokolow, for an increased number of schools across the country, threat assessment and behavioral intervention programs are becoming part of the fabric of campus life. “Five years ago,” he said, “behavioral intervention was almost unknown. Now, at a conference, you have 600 or 700 student affairs departments nationwide show up. So even though it’s time consuming and necessitates real cultural and organizational changes within universities, there’s truly an emerging learning curve going on nationwide.” HST Emergency Preparedness / Business Continuity Sessions: • Corporate Readiness and Response Process— Are You Ready and Prepared? • Building an Organizational Resiliency Program (ORP): How Prepared Is Your Hospital to Recover from an Internal Disaster • Case Study: Using the “Emergency Planning Guide for People with Disabilities “ at Friedman Place in Chicago • Continuity Planning for Small Business— How Do We Make Progress? • Corporate Crisis Management—Disaster and Business Continuity Planning Formerly the NFPA World Safety Conference & Expo® (WSC&E) FOR DETAILS AND TO REGISTER, LOG ONTO McCormick Place, Chicago June 8–11, 2009 nfpa.org/conference Register online today for exclusive online content and eNewsletters Homeland Security Today Magazine | May 2009 41