What is the cost of a school threat? New report shines light on resources used to investigate threats

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Students have only been in school for a few months, and the state of Tennessee has already seen hundreds of school threats, most of them hoaxes.

Threats not only send parents into a panic, but they cost valuable time and money.

The Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security has investigated more than 320 school threats so far this year. The Department said that 125 threats occurred in just one week.

“The Monday following the Georgia shooting we had 500 schools receive threats, so its just completely out of control,” explained Don Beeler, the CEO of TDR Technology Solutions.

Students poured into Apalachee High School for their first day of class after a school shooting killed two of their peers, two teachers, and injured nine others almost three weeks ago at the campus northeast of Atlanta.

Police said that 14-year-old student Colt Gray slipped out of math class on the morning of Sept. 4 with an AR-style rifle given to him by his father. Within minutes, sounds of gunshots rippled across the hall, and students crouched behind desks as teachers barricaded classroom doors. The school went into lockdown.

This month, several schools reported threats across Middle Tennessee. One recent threat happened on Tuesday, at Whites Creek High School , after a student was charged with making a threat of mass violence after police say he reportedly told administrators he would “blow the school up.” On Wednesday, a RePublic High School student threatened both RePublic and Whites Creek High School.

The incident marks another arrest in a series of recent threats made against Middle Tennessee schools. Districts in Cannon, Trousdale, Franklin, Humphreys, Macon, Warren, and Davidson Counties have all been impacted, with some incidents prompting schools to go on lockdowns within the past few weeks.

“Principals, superintendents, teachers, students missing learning time, police officers, healthcare professionals, everything, it is costing a lot of money for this, and we’ve got to say enough is enough and there are consequences for it,” executive director over Professional Educators of Tennessee , JC Bowman, explained.

TDR Technology Solutions is a company that tracks school threats and swatting incidents across the country, and in Tennessee, they have seen a troubling trend.

“When they are in front of law enforcement, they say, ‘Hey,it was a prank. I was just joking. It was this or that,'” Beeler said. “Last year, just in loss in instructional hours, these types of fake threats cost taxpayers over $500 million.”

Beeler explained so far this year, the cost of lost instructional hours due to threats in the United States has reached over $400 million. However, that amount of money doesn’t begin to compare to the amount of resources and money spent by law enforcement agencies to investigate each threat.

“There’s the law enforcement effort to track this down,” Beeler said. “They are taking their time away from serious crimes to do this type of thing, so the numbers are easily a multiplier more than what we’re reporting on.”

The company uses software that’s able to flag emails and calls that may contain threatening language. They even down how threats are being made, whether by phone or social media. According to the company’s data, the majority of these threats are coming through school email.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.