School violence prevention training, Kenosha leaders learn techniques
KENOSHA, Wis. - Police, prosecutors and educators in Kenosha County learned techniques Wednesday morning, Nov. 1 to try to prevent acts of mass violence.
The U.S. Secret Service program is focused on keeping schools safe by identifying concerning behavior before something bad happens. Law enforcement in Kenosha said their plan to stop school violence is working.
"Horrible tragedies can still occur, but on our watch we’re doing all we can think of, all we can," said District Attorney Michael Graveley. "The average planner of an incident that’s been acted upon in a school was engaged in that planning for more than six months."
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Graveley said, statistically, two people know something about plans of school violence or acts of self-harm.
"We recently went down to Parkland with KUSD to look at what happened there and learn some of those lessons," said Kenosha Police Chief Patrick Patton.
School violence prevention training in Kenosha
Two weeks ago, Kenosha’s police chief and school district leaders visited Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, where a gunman killed 17 people and hurt more than a dozen others in 2018.
"They did not have a threat-reporting system like SUSO," Trish Kilpin.
SUSO satands for "Speak Up, Speak out" – the Wisconsin Department of Justice's Office of School Safety 24/7 tip line. Director Trish Kilpin said the hotline received 100 credible tips since it launched three years ago. Funding the tip line is an issue, and leaders said money is running out.
"We have that funding through December 2024. We are hopeful in this legislative session there is a fix," Kilpin said.
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Law enforcement also credits "STACK" – the School Threat Assessment Coalition of Kenosha – as a tool to help prevent violence. The group makes all community leaders aware when a school violence investigation takes place.
"We need to have a plan and process and be trained with people at all of our schools to understand what their role is," said Bill Haithcock, KUSD chief of schools.
State Rep. Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam) is the Assembly's Joint Committee on Finance co-chair. He told FOX6 News in September the Legislature continued funding the Office of School Safety at current levels.
"The state cannot backfill the expansion of government that occurred in nearly every agency due to one-time federal money, and this office is no different," he said.