Central Kentucky police department has seen recent increase in school threats

Police in Richmond are investigating a threat that was made against a Madison Middle School student, and it’s the latest in a string of school-related threats, the police department says.

The most recent threat was sent anonymously over Snapchat. Police Chief Rodney Richardson said investigators were still working to identify the sender Wednesday morning.

Police have talked to the student who the threat was made towards, according to Richardson.

The school’s principal and district administrators were made aware of the threat Tuesday evening when a couple parents forwarded the screenshot, according to Erin Stewart, a spokesperson for the Madison County School District.

In the last two weeks, Richmond police have investigated two other instances of threats made toward schools. In those instances, it turned out the threats originated in other counties or states but were circulated in Madison County on social media, causing concern from the school community.

On May 5, a screenshot of a message threatening a shooting circulated in Madison County after it had been shared in other counties and another state. Police said the post was not validated and it wasn’t believed to have been related to any Madison County School.

Two days later another post featuring an image of a gun was shared in Richmond. Police said in a Facebook post they believed the threat originated in another county and no Madison County schools were actually at risk.

Richardson said school threats typically increase as the school year winds down. When a threat is received, protocol is to notify the school resource officer, Stewart said. The resource officer at Madison Middle School is a Richmond police officer, and they initiate the investigation.

“We have a great relationship with our law enforcement here in Madison County,” Stewart said. “We follow their lead and their recommendations as far as what we need to do to ensure safety.”

Richardson said there’s a protocol in place that automatically activates investigators when a threat is made towards a school. If police receive the information before the school does, they notify the school.

“Those investigators work to resolve the issue, find out who posted it, take them into custody if possible or investigate to find out where it came from,” Richardson said.

Why have threats been common in recent weeks?

Stewart said one thing that could attribute to the rise of threats made during the end of the school year is kids wanting additional days off after state testing and other activities.

“This year, for some reason, it just seems to be in excess more than it ever has been,” Richardson said. “We can’t take any of those kinds of things for granted, so we must treat each of those as if they are actual threats and do what we can to resolve them as quickly as possible.”

There were extra officers set to patrol Madison Middle School Wednesday, Richardson said. Eastern Kentucky University police, which patrol near Madison Middle School’s campus, also increased their patrol near the school, according to Stewart.