February 26, 2024 - Fresno County Sheriff’s Office officials report that in August 2023, the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office, in partnership with allied agencies, launched a comprehensive targeted violence threat assessment and management model.
It uses a multi-disciplinary approach to reduce the likelihood of targeted violence in our schools, workplaces, and locations where our community members may gather.
To file a report, visit https://www.fresnosheriff.org/targeted-violence...
This collaborative approach uses the following five components to ensure success:
- Education - Provides bystander education to the public to teach about concerning behavior as it relates to preventing targeted violence.
- Reporting - Enables the community to report concerning behavior.
- Triage - Consists of a team that receives and assesses all reported concerning behavior.
- Investigative - To receive reports of concerning behavior and completes threat assessments.
- Multi-disciplinary Threat Assessment and Management Team - To evaluate threat assessments, establish a level of concern and create management strategies with the goal of removing the person of concern from the pathway to violence.
All Targeted Violence Prevention Task Force members are subject matter experts in their respective fields (Behavioral Health, Psychology, Emergency Management, Law Enforcement, Human Resources, etc.) and have advanced threat assessment training to better collaborate within the task force.
The Targeted Violence Early Warning System in an online tip form that can be completed via computer or smartphone. The form contains 17 critical questions that will assist in triaging the concerning behavior being reported. An 18th question includes the identification of the reporter in the event they want to be contacted. The Targeted Violence Early Warning System is not designed for crimes in progress, but rather for those behaviors that are concerning in nature, yet may not rise to the level of a reportable crime.
Source: Fresno County Sheriff’s Office
