Characteristics of workplace threats requiring response from a university threat assessment team.

Abstract

In response to concerns about campus violence, universities are implementing threat assessment teams. In 2008, a large university's new threat assessment team began to identify and respond to potentially harmful situations. Events that involved the threat assessment team from August 2008 through December 2010 were examined to describe subjects, referral sources, and team actions. The team responded to 284 events-approximately 10 per month. Employees were the subject in 21.5% of events, students in 60.2%, and visitors in 18.3%. External threats, including assaults, threats, harassment, and stalking, comprised 49.5% of cases, and internal threats, including suicide attempt/ideation and mental health or behavior concerns, comprised 50.5%. The university team responded to a wide variety of events referred from multiple units across campus and that involved a combination of employees, students, and visitors.