Report page 70

The relationships between the BTAU and its partner community systems are critical to the prevention of targeted violence.

In addition to sharing prevention resources across agencies and organizations, outreach will also promote the BTAU as a resource to those external systems when they are confronted with situations that elicit concern for safety.

Therefore, it benefits the BTAU when agencies and organizations across the community know where they can go for help.

Community systems that require proactive outreach from the BTAU include: • government agencies, • other law enforcement agencies, • businesses, • K-12 schools, • colleges and universities, • houses of worship, • mental health providers, • social service agencies, and • nonprofit service organizations.

Agency outreach can begin simply by hosting meetings between the BTAU and partner organizations. During the meetings, the BTAU can explain who they are, the purpose of behavioral threat assessment, how agencies can contact the BTAU to report individuals of concern, and what happens after reports are received.

The BTAU should emphasize that while they are a law enforcement entity, their primary objective in conducting behavioral threat assessments is prevention, and their approach is focused on facilitating proactive intervention with the individual of concern while achieving a positive outcome for the individual and the community.

As community relationships develop over time, the BTAU may choose to host training events, tabletop exercises, and other interactive engagements alongside partner organizations to promote a community culture of prevention. These types of proactive engagements help to ensure that multiagency collaboration does not occur for the first time in the midst of a crisis.

For example, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) Threat Management Division conducts weekly meetings with outside agencies and organizations who have a role in their threat management process.

Weekly meetings are attended by representatives from groups including: • State Attorney’s Office (for adults), • State Attorney’s Office (for juveniles), • Mental Health Unit (law enforcement), • Crisis Response Specialist (mental health practitioner) , • Habitual Offender Monitoring Enforcement (HOME),