An additional police officer was stationed at Bartlett High School in Anchorage Monday after a post circulated on social media that threatened “BHS.”
The same threat delayed classes briefly Monday at Bethel Regional High School. According to the Bethel Police Department, the threat was from a post that originated in Binghamton, New York.
Corey Allen Young, a spokesperson for the Anchorage School District, said three unsubstantiated threats have been made about Anchorage-area schools in the last week. He asked parents to use an app called StopIt to report social media threats.
Young said the Bartlett threat was not credible. He urged parents to report detailed information about potential threats to the district, but warned against sharing threats more widely.
“There has been, obviously, a surge of threats that have come in different versions,” Young said. “Just this past week, we’ve had three unsubstantiated, false threats that were deemed to be not legitimate or credible. So because of that, what we’re asking is, if you hear of anything that’s a threat on social media content, to please use our StopIt app.”
Young said the district has several safety measures in place. Funding is in place for 15 school resource officers, although only 10 positions are currently filled. An effort to equip every Anchorage school with a secure vestibule entry is nearly complete, and the school board voted unanimously to pilot a program called Raptor at six schools, which manages visitors to school buildings. Young said the district plans to expand the program to all Anchorage schools by the end of this semester.
Making false threats on social media is a federal crime. According to the FBI, people charged with threatening interstate communications can receive up to five years in federal prison.
“Hoax threats disrupt school, waste limited law enforcement resources, and put first responders in unnecessary danger,” former FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich wrote in a post about hoax threats. “We also don’t want to see a young person start out adulthood with a felony record over an impulsive social media post.”
Tim Rockey is the producer of Alaska News Nightly and covers education for Alaska Public Media. Reach him at trockey@alaskapublic.org or 907-550-8487. Read more about Tim here.
