Police take 'zero tolerance' approach as school threats continue
Law enforcement and prosecutors in West Michigan say threats of violence made at schools in the wake of the Oxford High School shooting last week, whether they are pranks or serious, will result in consequences.
Though investigations into the threats that have closed Grand Haven Area Public Schools and Zeeland Public Schools this week are ongoing and had not, as of Tuesday, been turned over to the Ottawa County Prosecutor's Office, one juvenile has been charged with threatening violence at a local school following the Oxford shooting.
The student was charged with a misdemeanor Intentional Threat to Commit and Act of Violence Against a School, Employee, or Student in connection to threats made to another student at Zeeland Christian School, said Ottawa County Prosecutor Lee Fisher.
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Other threats being investigated by the sheriff's office had been deemed "not credible" as of Tuesday afternoon, Capt. Jacob Sparks of the sheriff's office announced in a news release, and Zeeland schools returned to school Wednesday. GHAPS students had a pre-planned day off Wednesday, unrelated to the threats, but classes were expected to resume Thursday.
But even the "not credible" threats may still result in serious consequences, including criminal charges, for the people who made them.
"There are several criminal charges that may apply to these school threat types of cases that range from 93-day misdemeanors up to 20-year felony offenses depending upon the facts of each individual case," Fisher said in an email.
"The Ottawa County Prosecutor’s Office intends to prosecute all school threat cases at the highest level possible in each case where there is sufficient evidence to prove the charge beyond a reasonable doubt."
A freshman student at Mona Shores Public School was expected to be charged for making a threatening post because "he did not want to go to school," WOOD TV-8 reported.
Muskegon County law enforcement agencies, schools and the county prosecutor's office formed a task force this week to investigate school shooting threats, promising severe consequences for anyone threatening violence in schools.
"Perpetrators will be caught and the consequences will be severe," said DJ Hilson, Muskegon County prosecutor, during the task force announcement.
Allegan County Undersheriff Mike Larsen said the department had been involved in three school threat investigations since the Oxford shooting.
"We don't label anything as a copycat, even if it is, because we don't want to fall into the trap of not taking one seriously," Larsen said. "We view every threat as credible. There's so much access to weapons and things that to say something isn't credible isn't the right approach. It's whether or not it was likely, and whether or not somebody actually had plans to carry it out.
"We weren't able to find any plans to carry out (the threats we investigated), but we did find threats that were at least intended to bring fear if nothing else, and those we take just as seriously."
Larsen stressed the importance of reporting anything concerning to law enforcement, no matter how small. OK2Say is a service that allows anyone to report tips concerning school safety confidentially.
Since Nov. 30, the date of the Oxford shooting, the service has received 2,685 tips.
If law enforcement find evidence that a threat was made, they will work with the Allegan County Prosecutor's Office to request charges.
"We're trying to get the message across that there will be zero tolerance on these threats in any way shape or form," Larsen said.
— Contact reporter Carolyn Muyskens at cmuyskens@hollandsentinel.com and follow her on Twitter at @cjmuyskens.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Police take 'zero tolerance' approach as school threats continue
