Three Things Every Threat Management Team Should be Doing in 2023
Every new year brings the opportunity to refresh. From a Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management (BTAM) perspective, 2023 brings a fresh opportunity to look ahead at how Threat Management Teams (TMT) can continue to keep those in organizations and communities safe. A large part of BTAM is the ongoing programmatic development and upkeep over the—the Threat Management program. Threat Assessment is the process to identify the potential dangerousness of threats and threatening behavior, while Threat Management is the program that seeks to employ intervention strategies to ensure these issues don’t get lost over time—because behavioral issues rarely go away on their own. To that end, here are three things TMTs can do in 2023 to build upon 2022.
Continuing education
BTAM is a perishable skillset. Threat Management Teams should strive to continue to learn and advance every year. While Individuals can gain additional education solo, there’s a particular benefit for teams advancing their skillset as a team. Gaining additional repetitions (to include scenarios) in training can improve efficiency and communication without the stress of a real-life situation. Then, when real situations arise, the team can have added confidence that all involved can/will work through it. As a team improves its ability to work together, it can also help lessen the impact of inevitable personnel turnover.
2. Reviewing 2022 for any lessons learned
Any formal program should have a regimented review—or looking back—to see how things have gone, so that improvements can be made. A team might consider: (1) did intervention strategies employed with various cases accomplish their intent? (2) Were reports or threats communicated timely, properly, etc.? (3) Do incident management protocols need adjustment based on identified shortcomings? (4) Were there any efficiencies withing the team’s ability to assess threats that need streamlining or improving?
There is a myriad of different things to review, however, during a routine meeting with the team, it’s beneficial to look back and identify potential lessons learned before getting too far into 2023.
3. Follow-up on previous cases
Many cases that teams work through can require a long period of management to ensure an individual of concern is receiving the help they need. Though, life can get busy and things like turnover can occur, teams should look at cases from the previous year(s) to ensure all were properly addressed. A threat assessment is only as good as the information available at any given time, so looking back at previous cases to identify if any new information is present can help inform if the situation requires new or different intervention.
Conclusion
As 2023 gets into full swing, TMTs can use the opportunity to advance both skillsets and teamwork, look back to 2022 and identify areas for improvement, and identify if any historical cases need to be looked at again. Doing these things can help TMTs continue to accomplish their goals of preventing/mitigating targeted violence and keep people and their organizations and communities safe.
To learn more about implementing a Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management Program within your organization, contact us.
By: Senior Advisor, Global Operations & Threat Mitigation, Dave Benson, MS, CTM
