MA Colleges New Danger: Bomb and Shooting Threats Cause Evacuations
Thursday, October 16, 2014
An increasingly popular way of dealing with such a threat on college campuses throughout the United States is to evacuate the campus to ensure that whether the threat is real or faked, students, faculty, and staff will remain safe.
“We have been following our existing protocol in dealing with this bomb threat,” said Mike Guilfoyle, Executive Director of Communications at Assumption College. “College officials – in consultation with authorities – deemed that the threat was serious in nature and that an evacuation was needed.”
In addition to Assumption College – which was shut down for almost a day – the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts was evacuated on October 6th for a few hours after a bomb threat was phoned-in. Harvard University also dealt with a similar problem – someone emailed many of the students on campus threatening to shoot them – on October 3rd, but the school did not chose to evacuate their students because it was deemed that the email was not credible or a threat.
A Troubling Trend
Although tracking the amount of bomb and other violent threats in the United States against colleges is hard, as there are no organizations that keep track of the data, many do feel that violent threats toward colleges are on the rise.
Evacuations are becoming an increasingly common way to deal with bomb threats at colleges and universities because colleges would rather be safe than sorry in dealing with the lives of their students.
It may not be to the degree that occurred in 2012 – where four college campuses throughout the United States happened in four days – but many local and statewide officials and citizens are becoming increasingly concerned about this trend, regardless of whether or not some if not all of these calls could be college pranks.
Determining A Cause
In addition to evacuating the college or university in question and determining whether or not there is a bomb on the campus, college public safety – usually in conjunction with the State Police and in some cases the FBI – try to determine who it was that called or emailed in the threat and why exactly they chose to do so.
While in some cases it is nothing more than a college prank or a student trying to get out of a final exam, the authorities must treat every instance like it is a true threat. After all, it is when people let their guard down that real damage can be done.
“Two main possible reasons are that some are coming from the same source who, whatever the agenda, has decided to make the threats frequently,” said David Procopio, a spokesperson for the Massachusetts State Police. “Another possible contributing factor is copycat offenders. Whoever is doing them should be warned that numerous resources have been, and will be, devoted to identifying and prosecuting those responsible.”
Related Slideshow: Worcester Crime Trends and Lack of Police Transparency
Related Articles
- Boston Marathon Bombings - By the Numbers
- Boston Bombings Investigation: Legal Experts Weigh In
- NEW: Feds Charge Boston Bombing Suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
- Ten Days Since Boston Bombings: Ten Key Events
- You Could Not Have Missed It: Boston Marathon Bombings Roundup
- BREAKING: Boston Bomber #2 is in Custody
- BREAKING: MBTA Closed As Police Search for Boston Marathon Bomber #2
- UPDATE: Boston Colleges Closed, MBTA, Amtrak Closed—Bomber Pursuit
- BREAKING: Gov Patrick Closes Down Boston While Surviving Marathon Bomber At Large
- Tom Finneran: Money For Nothing—Bombers’ Families On Welfare
- Friends Remember Deceased Brown Student Falsely Accused As Bomber
- BREAKING: Bombing Suspect Moved to North Central MA
- In Case You Missed it: Marathon Bomber’s Wife Speaks + More Fallout
- NEW: Three New Suspects in Custody in Marathon Bombings Case
- UPDATE: Police Probing Assumption College After Bomb Threat
- Julia Steiny: Bloodlust For Boston Bombers Won’t Aid Healing
- Missing Brown Student and Incorrectly Accused Bomber Found Dead
- BREAKING: Bomber Suspect’s Body Buried in Virginia
- NEW: Marathon Bomber Body Privately Buried - Worcester Police
- Worcester’s Shadowbomb Plays Music You Can Hear and Feel
- NEW: Prosecutors To Seek Death Penalty For Accused Marathon Bomber
- BREAKING: Assumption College is Being Evacuated Due to Bomb Threat
- Marathon Bomber’s Funeral to be Held in Worcester
Follow us on Pinterest Google + Facebook Twitter See It Read It