Q. What is threat assessment and threat management?

A. When people see something and say something, when police officers get information; when parents and coworkers share information, all that information needs to go someplace. We have learned in the last 20 years that when we dedicate a diverse group of trained individuals to analyze the new details coming in and match it to what they might already know or can find out, the group can make an educated analysis on whether that person is on a pathway to violence.

That group of people is called a threat assessment team. Depending where the team exists, they can include human resources personnel, mental health professionals, police officers, company supervisors, school counselors, school principals, athletic coaches, any other relevant community members, such as a scout leader. Building the right team is key.

When these teams analyzing the information, they receive and then choose the best way to manage that information, this is threat management. There may be an individual who appears to be out of pathway to violence and methods to manage that person can move them off of their pathway to violence.