WASHINGTON - The U.S. Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center released a new guide Wednesday designed to help state and local law enforcement develop programs to prevent targeted violence in the United States.
The guide, Behavioral Threat Assessment Units: A Guide for State and Local Law Enforcement to Prevent Targeted Violence, outlines how state and local law enforcement agencies can develop behavioral threat assessment units. These units are specifically designed to identify, assess, and intervene with individuals identified as posing a risk of violence.
“Keeping our communities safe is a team effort, and the Secret Service will continue to work with our state and local law enforcement partners to share knowledge, experience, and research in support of this common goal,” said U.S. Secret Service Acting Director Ronald L. Rowe. “This guide is specifically designed to help other law enforcement agencies put processes in place to recognize warning signs and prevent potential attacks.”
The ultimate goal of behavioral threat assessment units should be prevention. A structured behavioral threat assessment process can empower agencies, within all existing legal and constitutional parameters, to prevent future tragedies and loss of life.
The guide lists six steps for creating and operating a BTAU:
1. Establish a Behavioral Threat Assessment Unit and Policy
2. Create Operational Protocols and Procedures
3. Identify and Process Reports of Concerning Behavior
4. Gather Information to Assess for Risk
5. Develop Risk Management Strategies
6. Promote Continuous Improvement and a Culture of Prevention
“The research and guidance produced by the National Threat Assessment Center continually demonstrates that preventing targeted violence is possible if communities are equipped with the training and resources necessary to identify, assess, and intervene with individuals of concern,” said Steven Driscoll, Assistant Chief of the National Threat Assessment Center. “State and local law enforcement are at the forefront of protecting and serving the American people. This guide supports our law enforcement partners by providing a structured approach to preventing mass violence and keeping our communities safe.”
Behavioral threat assessment units can be established both within an agency, such as a city police department or county sheriff’s office or can be developed as an interagency collaboration comprised of representatives from multiple law enforcement agencies, mental health providers, and other community organizations.
The Secret Service behavioral threat assessment model has already been successfully implemented by some state and local law enforcement agencies.
“Our goal is to prevent targeted violence and mass casualty attacks and threat management is the single greatest opportunity that law enforcement has to prevent these acts of violence,” said Sheriff Robert Gualtieri, who has championed this approach to keep his community safe by implementing a Threat Management Division within the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office in Florida.
“There is no doubt that our Threat Management Division has averted violence by recognizing concerning behavior and intervening at the earliest possible moment; we are being proactive and not simply reacting to crime already committed,” Gualtieri said. “Every law enforcement agency in the country can successfully implement these concepts because they are scalable to each agency’s capacity. I strongly encourage each police chief and sheriff to use the NTAC guidance and learn more about how they can keep their communities safe using behavioral threat assessment and management.”
NTAC will hold an initial, virtual seminar for state and local law enforcement agencies via Microsoft Teams on October 16.
Since the 1990’s, the Secret Service NTAC has been conducting research, training, consultation, and information sharing on threat assessment and the prevention of targeted violence. NTAC has studied attacks directed at government agencies and officials, workplaces, K-12 schools, institutions of higher education, and other public spaces.
The report can be found here: https://www.secretservice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/2024-10/Behavioral-Threat-Assessment-Units-A-Guide-for-State-and-Local-Law-Enforcement-to-Prevent-Targeted-Violence.pdf
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