BTAM: A Deep Bench of Resources

 In June 2019, the Colorado Department of Public Safety hosted the Colorado Preventing Targeted Violence Summit, which was designed to bring together relevant stakeholders to accomplish three objectives: learn more about targeted violence, improve communication between stakeholders about the roles they play in combating targeted violence, and brainstorm strategies for the governor’s office on how to build healthier communities in Colorado [3]. More than 75 people attended the summit, representing 40 distinct organizations including state, local, and federal actors; nonprofit organizations; academic institutions; and private mental health providers [3]. The summit was groundbreaking—it was one of the first such efforts by a state to bring together all relevant stakeholders to build a shared understanding of, and vocabulary for, tackling the challenges posed by violent acts such as domestic terrorism and school shootings.

Holding a successful summit at the state, city, or county level is not required to stand up a robust terrorism or targeted violence prevention program, but even a modest gathering of a dozen people can be a powerful tool for collaboration. Organizing such an event, however, requires knowing which stakeholders to invite and the roles they have in terrorism and targeted violence prevention. Moreover, even if no summit or gathering is held, knowing who should be involved when a prevention program is being designed and implemented remains critical. Identifying relevant stakeholders is particularly important because it can be tempting to think of terrorism or targeted violence prevention as a law enforcement activity, but most initiatives seek to intervene long before criminal behavior has occurred (and thus before law enforcement can take action).

Our engagement with Wood County over the course of a year suggests that successful intervention—that is, successful behavioral threat assessment and management (BTAM)—requires a team with a deep bench. Core players will be involved in most cases, but in the best-case scenario, they will be part of a broader team with resources that far exceed what the core players themselves are capable of providing. Table 1 gives a breakdown of the personnel, services, and resources in Wood County and the frequency with which they are accessed.

Critically, in most instances, the expertise to manage these cases will already exist either locally or regionally, so the challenge is in identifying the personnel or capabilities that will be needed and bringing them together to establish a shared understanding of the challenge. As one Wood County practitioner noted, “We have a systems-based problem that needs a systems-based solution.”