Threat Management Unit

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In United States civilian law enforcement, a Threat Management Unit is a police department team that provides criminal and behavioral analysis and risk assessments in an attempt to review, and ultimately mitigate, the potential for violence with an emphasis on prevention. Threat Management Units identify risk factors, patterns of escalation, and construct an environment that inhibits or prevents violence. The services provided cover a wide range of topics, including, but not limited to terrorism, school violence, sexual crimes, stalking, cyber crimes (cyber stalking), domestic violence, arson, sabotage, communicated threats, insider threats and pre-attack behavior. [1] Research in this area of law enforcement is known as Threat Safety Science.

Contents

Origins

The Los Angeles Police Department created the first Threat Management Unit, the Los Angeles Police Department Threat Management Unit, founded by retired LAPD Captain Robert Martin, in 1990 after the murder of actress Rebecca Lucile Schaeffer. [2] [3] [4] [5]

Threat Management Units have been adopted by many city, county, state and federal law enforcement agencies, including agencies from Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Europe, Asia, Hong Kong and South America; as well as private security consultants all seeking to implement a form of TMU for contracted national and foreign jurisdictions. [6] [7]

Notable Programs

Los Angeles Police Department

The Los Angeles Police Department Threat Management Unit was established in 1990. [2] The primary mission of the LAPD TMU is to ensure the safety and well-being of members of the diverse communities of the City of Los Angeles by investigating and managing aggravated cases, both criminal and non-criminal, wherein individuals have demonstrated an abnormal fixation or obsession and have generated a long-term pattern of unsolicited acts of visitation, telephonic or written correspondence in a threatening manner toward a specific person. The LAPD TMU works cooperatively with the Los Angeles Police Department Mental Evaluation Unit (MEU) to evaluate stalking suspects who often suffer from some form of mental instability and workplace violence suspects who experience some form of mental health crisis when they make threats and engage in acts of violence. The MEU, Systemwide Mental Assessment Response Team (SMART) accompanies TMU on all of its calls involving stalkers and workplace violence. Both the TMU and MEU comprise the Crisis Response Support Section (CRSS).

University of Texas at Houston Police Department

The University of Texas at Houston Police Department established a Threat Management Unit under the leadership of Chief William H. Adcox. The Unit is led by Inspector Vicki King and advised by Dr. Gregory H. Botz who provides insight into applications in the healthcare industry. The unit has been credited with a 300% increase in early intervention reporting between 2012 and 2014. [8] Reports indicate that hospital employees feel more comfortable reporting concerning behavior so officers can get these individuals help before their behavior escalates to criminal activity or harm to themselves or others. The unit was involved in 11 suicide interventions in a four-month period where the people investigated were held under an Emergency Detention Order and given psychiatric care. During that same four-month period, the Threat Management Unit intervened in 18 cases in which the subject was considered to be at high risk for committing a violent act. [8] Researchers at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center are pioneering threat safety science and principles of de-escalation of threat and risk in order to develop tactical solutions in Threat Safety Science in healthcare.

See also

Related Research Articles

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Stalking is unwanted and/or repeated surveillance by an individual or group toward another person. Stalking behaviors are interrelated to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person or monitoring them. The term stalking is used with some differing definitions in psychiatry and psychology, as well as in some legal jurisdictions as a term for a criminal offense.

In the United Kingdom, the Fixated Threat Assessment Centre (FTAC) is a joint police/mental health unit set up in October 2006 by the Home Office, the Department of Health and Metropolitan Police Service to assess and manage the risk to politicians, members of the British Royal Family, and other public figures from obsessive individuals.

A Civil Harassment Restraining Order (CHO) is a form of restraining order or order of protection used in the state of California. It is a legal intervention in which a person who is deemed to be harassing, threatening or stalking another person is ordered to stop, with the goal of reducing risk of further threat or harm to the person being harassed. Some restraining orders are limited to domestic partners, but the CHO is not. It is frequently used with the purpose of preventing harassment by co-workers, neighbours, strangers and acquaintances.

<i>Stalker</i> (TV series) TV series

Stalker was an American police procedural crime drama television series about victims of stalking and the detectives of the LAPD's Threat Assessment Unit who investigate the crimes. The show ran for one season on CBS, from October 1, 2014, to May 18, 2015. The series aired on Wednesdays for seventeen episodes and Monday for the last three.

Threat Assessment is the practice of determining the credibility and seriousness of a potential threat, as well as the probability that the threat will become a reality. Threat assessment is separate to the more established practice of violence-risk assessment, which attempts to predict an individual's general capacity and tendency to react to situations violently. Instead, threat assessment aims to interrupt people on a pathway to commit "predatory or instrumental violence, the type of behavior associated with targeted attacks," according to J. Reid Meloy, PhD, co-editor of the International Handbook of Threat Assessment. "Predatory and affective violence are largely distinctive modes of violence."

William H. Adcox is the Chief Security Officer for the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and a pioneer of Threat Safety Science in healthcare. He is also the Chief of Police and Chief Security Officer at the University of Texas at Houston Police Department, which is a component of the University of Texas System. He has had a longstanding career as a police officer and Deputy Chief of Police in El Paso, Texas.

Inspector Vicki King is a pioneering threat safety scientist in the healthcare sector. She is the leader of the Threat Assessment Unit at the University of Texas at Houston Police Department, which is a component of the University of Texas System.

References

  1. ↑ Calhoun, Frederick S.; Weston, Stephen W. (2013). Concepts and case studies in threat management. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. ISBN   978-1-4398-9217-6.
  2. 1 2 "LA Magazine". lamag.com. Archived from the original on 13 January 2010. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  3. ↑ Johnson, Beth (Jul 14, 1995). "A Fan's Fatal Obsession". Entertainment Weekly Inc. Retrieved 2014-06-30.
  4. ↑ "Revealed: Work of the LA police who protect the stars from stalkers". Scotland's Daily Record and Sunday Mail. Feb 27, 2009. Retrieved 2014-06-30.
  5. ↑ Toobin, Jeffrey (February 24, 1997). "STALKING IN L.A." Annals of Law. The New Yorker. Retrieved 2014-06-30.
  6. ↑ "Stalking, threatening, and attacking ... – J. Reid Meloy, Lorraine Sheridan, Jens Hoffmann – Google Books". Google Books. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  7. ↑ "Association of Threat Assessment Professionals". Atapworldwide.org. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  8. 1 2 Gray, Robin. "A New Attitude Toward Hospital Security: The Wellness Approach". Campus Safety Magazine. EH Publishing. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
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