TEHRAN, May 06 - Last week’s shooting at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte that killed two students and wounded four was just the kind of tragedy a team of officials at the school was trying to prevent.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) -UNC Charlotte has a behavioral intervention team (BIT) tasked with reviewing reports about troubled students and intervening to prevent harm to themselves or others. Similar teams meet regularly at hundreds of other U.S. universities.
U.S. law enforcement has cited the growing use of such teams, which bring together officials from different branches of a campus to compare notes on troubled students with the aim of spotting signs of potential violence, as a key strategy to prevent mass shootings.
Last year, the U.S. Secret Service recommended here schools set up threat assessment teams to meet regularly to discuss potentially troubled students. The gun control group Everytown for Gun Safety has echoed that call.
But last week’s shooting at UNC Charlotte illustrates the challenges such teams face in an environment where anyone can walk onto a campus and blend into a population of thousands of students.
The accused gunman in Charlotte, 22-year-old former student Trystan Andrew Terrell, has been charged with two counts of murder and four of attempted murder. Terrell withdrew from the school on Feb. 14, UNC Charlotte spokeswoman Buffie Stephens said in an email.
University officials, citing privacy rules, declined to say if the BIT had discussed Terrell.
UNC Charlotte Police Chief Jeff Baker, who participates in BIT meetings himself or through a representative, told reporters that Terrell had not been on “our radar.”
“NO ONE CONNECTED ALL THE DOTS”
“Obviously, this week as you know, we can’t identify everybody who might be posing a risk, but I think we have a pretty good track record,” David Spano, associate vice chancellor for student affairs at UNC Charlotte and a BIT member, said in a phone interview on Friday. “No, I think we have an excellent track record.”
The team, which includes the campus dean of students, the director of housing and other school officials, meets once a month, but can convene more urgently if a dangerous case comes to its attention.
The BIT often receives reports of troubling behavior, such as threatening emails or phone calls, harassment or stalking, through a tool on the university’s website, said Spano, who is also the university’s director of counseling.
In dozens of cases, the team has arranged for a potentially troubled student to meet with an official in charge of assistance and support services, Spano said. A counsellor sometimes joins that initial meeting, and in many cases the student receives mental health care afterward.
Source: reuters
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