美国国家公共电台 NPR 'It's Preventable': Sandy Hook Parents Promote App For Reporting School Threats

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Today marks a dark day in American history. It has been six years since 26 children and educators were shot and killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. The gunman later killed himself. Now a group of Sandy Hook parents are training students to try to spot warnings in order to prevent anything like that from happening again. The group is urging students to anonymously 2 report concerns through an app on their phones. NPR's Tovia Smith has the story.

TOVIA SMITH, BYLINE 3: It's the same refrain after almost every incident. I knew something was up with that guy, or I knew he'd do something like this. In fact, government statistics show in 80 percent of school shootings, someone knew about the plan ahead of time - a point dramatized by the anti-gun violence group Sandy Hook Promise in a chilling, new PSA.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Look at me.

SMITH: The ad shows a fictitious 4 shooter launching his attack after a series of warning signs went ignored - a painfully common reality.

MARK BARDEN: I literally 5 think about it all the time - of all the ways what happened in Sandy Hook could've been prevented, and my little Daniel could be right here with me at home where he should be.

SMITH: Sandy Hook Promise co-founder Mark Barden lost his 7-year-old in the 2012 shooting, one of those cases where red flags were abundant.

BARDEN: I mean, that same kind of story keeps playing itself out. And, you know, we just keep knocking our head against the wall. Like, the warning signs were there. The warning signs were there. What are we doing? We know it's preventable.

DEBRA D'ANGELO: So Step one of this program - look for warning signs, signals and threats. What's a warning sign?

SMITH: Debra D'Angelo is a trainer for the See Something, Say Something program, which is free to schools. She's come to The Morgan School in Connecticut to give high schoolers a crash course in recognizing threats that may not be explicit 6.

D'ANGELO: They will regret they ever met me. You'd be better off without me. It doesn't actually say the words, I'm going to do - fill in the blank. But those are threats because the words intend harm.

SMITH: Being able to report such concerns anonymously by app is a game changer for students like Becca Arribas Cockley.

BECCA ARRIBAS COCKLEY: Yeah, I think a lot of people - they don't want to be, like, the snitch of the school.

SMITH: Senior Daniel Radka agrees. A few years ago, he heard a kid threatening a school shooting but was too afraid to tell a teacher.

DANIEL RADKA: I didn't want it to get back to the kid that I had reported him. I did not want other people to know because it was kind of a joke, and I didn't know if that was cause enough to tell anyone.

SMITH: Turns out that wasn't a real threat. But next time, Radka says, a reporting app would be way more in his comfort zone.

RADKA: It's kind of like the difference between having a phone call and sending a text. You don't have to deal with that person face-to-face. You don't have to talk to that person. You say what you want to say, and then you're off the hook.

SMITH: Tips get triaged at a national call center by crisis counselors 7 who can immediately involve local police and/or school officials. They can also message back and forth 8 with the tipster. Many schools say the app has already paid off.

KIRK CARPENTER: I remember exactly where I was, and it still gives me chills because a life was saved that night.

SMITH: Kirk Carpenter, superintendent 9 in Aztec, N.M., says when crisis counselors heard of a suicidal student there, they engaged with her, with school officials who could identify her and with police.

CARPENTER: Authorities were able to knock on the door and take that student from the home before any kind of act that could've been fatal.

SMITH: About eight states are funding statewide reporting systems. And many new apps are coming to market, costing up to several hundred dollars a month. Researcher Michael Planty is studying them with a Justice Department grant.

MICHAEL PLANTY: The interest in school-based tip lines is really taking off. And there's good reason to believe that they're promising 10.

SMITH: But so far, the successes have been more about stopping suicides and bullying 11 than school shootings. Johns Hopkins professor Sheldon Greenberg, an expert in school safety, says that's unlikely to change.

SHELDON GREENBERG: We shouldn't raise the expectation too high. In regard to active shooters, the dots aren't always going to be put together as easily as people think they could be.

SMITH: Even when a solid lead is reported, the response can fall short, as happened in Parkland, Fla. Authorities did get tips about that school shooter but failed to adequately follow up.

SUSAN PAYNE: It's heartbreaking. I mean, there's nothing more heartbreaking.

SMITH: Susan Payne founded Safe2Tell, an anonymous 1 tip line developed after the Columbine shooting. She worries some new systems being peddled 12 to schools may not follow best practices. For example, she says tips should be fielded by law enforcement who have the tools to investigate more quickly than counselors.

PAYNE: We assume everybody is, oh, they're going to have this right. They're going to know how to do this. But this is an emerging field, and so, sometimes, you're seeing somebody check the box. We have a tip line. We have a mobile app. But is that meeting the standard of care for a tip line?

SMITH: Some also question whether anonymous tip lines are too prone 13 to abuse, but Superintendent Carpenter says responders are trained to vet 14 out the prank 15 calls and intentionally 16 false reports just meant to get someone in trouble.

CARPENTER: We've had a couple hoaxes 17. And if some kids misuse 18 it, then we can deal with it. But the bottom line is we have seen nothing but great benefit out of this.

SMITH: Ultimately, much of the success can't be measured. It's not just about foiling planned shootings, advocates say. No one will ever know, for example, if a case of bullying or depression that was nipped in the bud might've otherwise escalated 19 into the next national tragedy. Tovia Smith, NPR News.