A series of recent bomb threats at universities across the nation illustrates how disruptive bomb threats can be. While it is tempting to think that it is safer to automatically evacuate a facility when a bomb threat is received, there are times where a bomb threat is used to trigger an evacuation so building occupants are more exposed. In other words, an aggressor can call in a bomb threat so that evacuees will be brought to the location of an explosives device. This is not a strictly hypothetical situation as a Georgia middle school student was arrested for planning exactly this type of attack many years ago and there have been incidents where this tactic has been successfully utilized elsewhere.
A number of years ago, we released a white paper on this topic that was written for the Indiana Department of Education School Safety Specialist’s Academy. We are planning to update this paper later this year and it will be announced automatically to people who have signed up for our free electronic periodical the Safety Net.