What a great start to the summer!
In July, Central Oregon Community College (COCC) hosted national ATAP Board Member and FBI’s Unit Chief Andre Simons addressing Threats in Institutions of Higher
Education. More than 50 members and guests attended our first meeting held in central Oregon. To kick off the fast-paced day, Seth Elliott opened the meeting with an overview of
INSIDE
THIS
ISSUE:
President’s
Corner
Chapter
Election
2
3
September
Meeting
4
News Worth
Sharing
TMC and
Pictures
5
6-
7
June
Meeting
Bend
Pictures!
8
9
July
Meeting in
Bend
10
Upcoming
Training
11
N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4
NORTHWEST
CHAPTER
Booked in Bend
Andre Simons
Unit Chief, FBI BAU
ATAP National VP
COCC’s Threat Assessment and Prevention Team. Noting the varied stages of development of our various teams, he offered encouragement to those who are in the process of forming their own threat teams. Unit Chief Simons followed with a lively presentation that explored the past, future, and present state of targeted violence on campuses. Taking exception to recent media reports, Simons emphasized that while we can’t predict these acts of targeted violence, we can prevent them. Comparing grievances and triggers, Simons looked closely at case studies
(Continued on page 10)
For our November 7th meeting in
Portland, Oregon, we are fortunate to
have guest Dr. Mario Scalora join us
from Nebraska. Dr. Scalora will
discuss recent research and
strategies related to enhancing
reporting behavior of concern.
Dr. Scalora will focus on the
importance of facilitating bystander
and victim reporting, and offer
practical strategies to facilitate
reporting to enhance threat
assessment.
November Meeting: Dr. Mario Scalora Dr. Scalora is Professor of
Psychology at the
University of Nebraska-
Lincoln, where he leads
the Targeted Violence
Research Team.
In addition, Dr. Lynn Van Male and Dr.
Anders Goranson will provide an
overview of Threat Assessment and
Management at the VA.
Thank you to our friends at the
Portland VA for hosting!
P A G E 2 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 3
“To catch the reader's attention,
place an interesting sentence or
quote from the story here.”
As noted on the next page, our
chapter will hold elections for
all board positions over the
next six weeks. If you desire
to nominate a chapter
member, or yourself, as a
candidate for a board position,
please prepare to submit those
nominations. As a volunteer
organization, the work required
to keep our chapter operations
and various training/
networking events running as
smooth as possible doesn’t get
done without all of us jumping
in at one point or another. So,
try and contribute when
possible via a board
opportunity, as a chairperson,
or on any committees. I will
(Continued on page 3)
President’s Corner - Scott McArthur Co-Training Chair, Melissa
Muir, have taken the lead on a
chapter development event
that will be held in Spokane on
January 9th. We anticipate a
diverse multi-disciplinary
audience of Spokane and
northern Idaho attendees who
will learn more about ATAP
and a team approach to threat
assessment and case
management. Among the
speakers will be Lt. Dave
Okada and Dr. Rebecca
Bolante. Raymond Bush from
Spokane County and our
friends from CPPS have done
a lot of “on the ground” work to
support this event. We’re very
excited about taking ATAP to
the Inland Empire!
Welcome to our
latest chapter
newsletter. The
Northwest chapter
of ATAP continues
to thrive. As you
will see below,
we’re now 178+
members strong!
While these
numbers comfortably rank us
as the second largest chapter
in the country, we anticipate
our numbers will continue to
grow as we continue our
chapter development efforts.
Similar to our central Oregon
journey this past July, we will
be road tripping to Ellensburg
and Spokane in January.
Chapter VP, Ray Fleck, and
N W C H A P T E R N E W S L E T T E R N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4
ATAP National. James is the Regional Managing Director with Pinkerton Consulting and Investigations based out of the Portland area. A special thank you to Larry Kaminer for his outstanding work as Membership Coordinator over the past two years as we experienced incredible growth in membership. New members: we look forward to meeting you at upcoming meetings.
As of November 1st, we have 178 chapter members within ATAP Northwest! With this increase in membership, we also welcome our new Membership Coordinator, James McClain. James will be responsible for processing membership applications and
collaborating with the chapter Secretary on attendance compliance and reporting on the status of all members each year to
Membership Update
Northwest Chapter Elections In an effort to achieve alignment with ATAP National Board endeavors, the NW Chapter Board recently voted to hold elections earlier than previous years.
ATAP National historically holds its annual Association Board of Directors meeting in late January. As each chapter President is a Director on the ABOD, I desired to ensure that the NW Chapter President was able to represent
our chapter during the ABOD meeting in a meaningful manner and engage in sustained chapter
progress throughout the year as a result of the ABOD meeting.
We have amazing talent and leaders in the Northwest. I encourage and expect competition for each Board position.
A separate email communication will be distributed in early November outlining the schedule, position duties, the nomination process/submittal requirements and voting.
Members: if you desire to serve on the election committee, and do
not intend to run for the Board, please contact me via email at: [email protected].
P A G E 3
N W C H A P T E R N E W S L E T T E R
distribute a separate email the
week of November 10 with
additional information
regarding the election process.
In terms of looking forward, we
intend to leverage our
newsletter, and eventually an
online environment, to provide
enhanced information to our
chapter members. We
anticipate this will include
postings of available
employment positions
involving ATAP related
disciplines and non-ATAP
sponsored training
opportunities that our
members may gain value from.
(Continued from page 2)
Over the past year, we’ve
made great efforts to bring
amazing speakers to the NW
on a variety of topics. While
we’ll continue to schedule
outstanding national experts
for presentations, we’ll also be
seeking to tap the significant
knowledge base from within
the chapter. If you’re
interesting in presenting to the
chapter, please sync with
Melissa Muir and Bryan
Flannery. We will also be
distributing a new survey to
capture various inputs from the
membership on your feedback
and desires.
Thank you for all the difficult
and important work you
engage with on a daily basis in
an effort to keep our
communities safe! As this will
be our last newsletter for 2014,
I wish you a happy holiday
season!
Scott R. McArthur, CPP
President
ATAP Northwest Chapter
Important Dates
November 10 Open nominations begin for all NW Board positions
November 26 Last day for nominations for all NW Board position
December 1-12 Voting
December 15 Winners announced
January 1, 2015 New Board terms commence
President’s Corner continued...
P A G E 4
September: John Lane On September 19, we were pleased to host John Lane, retired LAPD Lt. and ATAP Founder, at the NOAA Western Region in Seattle. Focusing on stalking typologies, response options, and the importance of a focused approach to managing stalking cases, Mr. Lane shared context for the stalking laws we now have in every state. Mr. Lane created LAPD’s Threat Management Unit to focus on stalking and was a key participant in developing the nation’s first stalking law, in California, less than 25 years ago.
He discussed stalking typologies, and the significant differences in the risk associated with each. Mr. Lane shared general strategies and interview tips and emphasized the importance of knowing the research. As he pointed out, plaintiff attorneys are guaranteed to know it. John Lane founded ATAP and has served as President of the National ATAP Board and Los Angeles Chapter. He founded the national Threat Management Conference that recently celebrated its 24th year. Mr. Lane is the VP of Crisis & Security Consulting at Control Risks.
justice.
Beyond the adoption of the case,
the knowledge of threat
assessment played a role at trial.
Just hours before our September
meeting, the former law
enforcement officer was found
guilty on 10 of 12 counts. He has
since been sentenced to an
exceptional sentence of nearly 20
years.
Raymond Fleck is the Acting
Assistant Chief with the United
States Marshals Service for the
Western District of Washington.
He is also Vice President of the
Northwest Chapter of ATAP.
How does the fact that a stalking
subject is former law enforcement
affect how to approach the case?
Acting Assistant Chief Deputy U.S.
Marshal Raymond Fleck presented
a case study highlighting some of
these concerns, and how an
understanding of targeted violence
played a role.
With a chilling audio tape that
domestic violence experts in the
audience called “typical”, Fleck told
the story of a former law
enforcement officer intent on
terrorizing his estranged wife.
Based on threat knowledge and
escalating behavior, the U.S.
Marshals Service adopted the case
and worked with local law
enforcement to bring this stalker to
N W C H A P T E R N E W S L E T T E R
September: Raymond Fleck
News Worth Sharing
P A G E 5 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 3
“The upside,” school
psychologist John Van Dreal
says, “is not just that you stop
a school shooting. The
upside is that you get
involved in someone's life."
http://www.esquire.com/
features/mass-shooters-1014
Esquire Magazine’s
October issue features an
article entitled Everything
We Think We Know About
Mass Shooter is Wrong.
The article attacks myths,
and mentions a number of
fellow ATAP members,
including our own John
VanDreal and the Salem-
Keizer team.
Everything We Think We Know About Mass Shooters is Wrong
FBI Study on Active Shooter Incident
Source: FBI
The FBI recently released
an informative study on
active shooter incidents
between the years 2000
and 2013:
http://www.fbi.gov/news/
stories/2014/september/fbi
-releases-study-on-active-
shooter-incidents/fbi-
releases-study-on-active-
shooter-incidents
The Salem-Keizer school
district, in Oregon’s
Willamette Valley, is
considered perhaps the
foremost example of what
an emphasis on threat
assessment can accomplish
in a local setting.
P A G E 6
From Calgary to Chemeketa, and many points inbetween
Threat Management Conference! A big thank you to all of the
NW Chapter members who
participated in this year’s 24th
Annual Threat Management
Conference. We offered door
help, Hospitality Suite
volunteers, and great
presenters!
Special thanks to Jenni Diaz,
Bryan Flannery, Raymond
Fleck, Jeff Fletcher, Mark
Jones, Scott McArthur,
Melissa Muir, Rick Shell,
Sierra Walker, Bob
McCormick and his team!
Assessment in Higher
Education: A National
Survey of Threat
Assessment Practices
in the U.S. and
Application of Threat
Assessment,
Management and
Legal Issues Within the
College Environment.
We ended Wednesday
with Seattle Police
Detective Rande
Christiansen’s
Domestic Violence in
the Workplace: A Case
Study of a Thwarted
Attack.
Up Thursday was
Christina Holbrook of
Boeing on Threat
Management Case
Categories and How
Metrics Can Tell Your
Story: What Gets
Measured, Gets
Funded.
Next was Lynn
Fairweather with The
Winding Path: An
Interactive Group
Threat Assessment
Exercise.
And, last but certainly not least, we closed out TMC Friday with a fascinating presentation by our own Dr. Rudy Lorber on Using Neuropsychological Data as an Aid in Conducting Threat Assessments. Congratulations to all of our Chapter Member presenters!
NW Chapter
Members were
well represented
throughout the 24th
annual TMC.
On Wednesday, the
NW Chapter covered
all of the tracks. We
started the day with
Calgary Police Senior
Constables Nathan
Ford and Christopher
Kirby (pictured above).
They presented “I’m
Just Trying to Meet a
Girl:” A Case Study In
Managing a Stalker.
The next track featured
our Chemeketa
Community College
team (Rebecca Hilyer,
Rebecca Bolante, and
Bill Kohlmeyer,
pictured on the next
page) on Threat
Presenters Chris Kirby and Nathan Ford
help out at the Hospitality Suite
N W C H A P T E R N E W S L E T T E R
24th Annual Threat Management Conference
P A G E 7 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 3
A great turnout at this year’s Threat Management Conference in Anaheim. Nearly 50 members of the Northwest Chapter
joined the 700+ professionals attending.
P A G E 8
N W C H A P T E R N E W S L E T T E R
Mr. Abu-Hamid
presented an award
-winning level of
enthusiastic
understanding of the
field. He provided
practical tips that a
high school student
could easily
understand and
implement.
-Gordon Mitchell
Mr. Abu-Hamid
presented active
shooter scenarios
that everyone could
benefit from,
whether they are
armed or unarmed.
He reaches the
audience in a way
that motivates them
to act accordingly
and, most
importantly, to train
family and
colleagues how to
be a part of the
solution to save
lives in such a
situation.
-Jodie Ryan
within the community. By conducting
exercises within their area high
schools, Officers Lott and Hovenden
are making it personal in encouraging
students to fight back.
Joint Meeting at Microsoft
In June, ATAP NW Chapter members
joined ASIS and Eastside Security
Forum for a series of presentations on
Active Shooters. More than 100
people gathered at Microsoft’s
Redmond campus, including 50 NW
ATAP Chapter members. Another 20
attended online.
The day emphasized practical skills and
knowledge to prepare our organizations
to deal with an Active Shooter scenario.
Basim Abu-Hamid, of Pinkerton
Global Security, presented on Active
Shooter for the Unarmed Individual. An
accomplished speaker, Mr. Abu-Hamid
shared a shorter version of materials he
uses with a largely Silicon Valley
audience. He focused on intervention,
disarming techniques, and active
response.
Dr. Frank Colistro ended the day
discussed myths that violence can’t be
predicted or stopped, pointing out:
“we’re living proof that’s not true.”
Redmond Police Department Officers
Kenny Lott and Sam Hovenden
presented on a Law Enforcement
Response to an Active Shooter. They
emphasized the importance of relying
on good training and tactics, not luck.
Focusing on a unified response,
Officers Lott and Hovenden shared the
exercises and training that Redmond
PD conducts with other law
enforcement, with fire departments, and
June: Active Shooter Response
Most incidents of an
active shooter situation
happen within 10 to 15
minutes and are over
before Law Enforcement
arrives on scene. The key
to surviving these types of
situations is mental and
physical preparation.
P A G E 9
N W C H A P T E R N E W S L E T T E R N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4
Bend Meeting
P A G E 1 0
N W C H A P T E R
In an anonymous
conference room
inside the
anonymous
building, a man sits
at the head of the
conference table.
His name is Andre
Simons. He is trim,
compact, and alert,
with a scalp shaved
to a high shine,
arched eyebrows,
and preternaturally
wide-open eyes.
- Esquire Magazine
shooters rarely have a history of violence or substance abuse issues either. Simons brought out great suggestions from the diverse group in the room, representing higher education, law enforcement, mental health, and legal professionals. After a wonderful lunch and opportunity to network, Simons raised the importance of bringing cyber experts into threat assessment— “get a Latin speaker on your team.” The setting was ideal, the
presentation was engaging, and the packed crowd left with new connections and new ideas for putting these ideas into practice in our own organizations.
Threats in Higher Education
to better understand triggering events. He attacked the myth of someone “just snapping” and instead described much more nuanced situations. For example, Simons pointed out that active
(Continued from page 1)
July: Central Oregon Community College
Hosts from Central Oregon Community College:
Jim Bennett, Seth Elliott, Don Doughy, and Cady-Mae Hunt
NW Chapter President Scott McArthur with Unit Chief Andre Simons
Would you like to contribute to our new NW Chapter
newsletter?
If you want to highlight an area of threat assessment or
have an idea for an article (150-400 words), please e-mail
it to Melissa Muir at [email protected]
Interested in joining ATAP?
Click here for more information Newsletter Ideas?
NW Chapter Training Calendar
Friday, January 9 Spokane, Washington Friday, March 6 Oregon Friday, May 1 Puget Sound August 11-15 National Threat Management Conference Anaheim, California
While it is always best to attend meetings in person, we will offer meetings online when possible. Webinar availability and/or quality is dependent on host venue IT & AV infrastructure, and broadband availability.
P A G E 1 1 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 3
The next meeting will be held in Portland on Friday, November 7, 9 am—1:00 pm Mark your calendar for these upcoming 2015 meetings:
Proactive Resolutions is partnering with
universities throughout Canada to present 5-day
Violence Risk Assessment & Management
Workshops for Higher Education. ATAP
members are eligible for a discount.
The Foundational Workshop focuses on best
practices in assessing and managing violence
risk. The Advanced Workshop teaches mastery
in implementing these skills into practice.
Foundational Workshop
Langley, British Columbia
December 8-12, 2014
Advanced Workshop
Vancouver, British Columbia
February 23-27, 2015
See their website for more information:
http://proactive-resolutions.com/proactive-
events/
Other Upcoming Training