UVALDE, Texas – Law enforcement agencies across Texas participated in a three-day behavioral threat assessment training in Uvalde.
First responders from 11 counties — Atascosa, Bexar, Dimmit, Harris, Hidalgo, Kleberg, Maverick, Travis, Uvalde, Val Verde and Wilson — attended the training. Representatives from sheriff’s offices, police departments and EMS agencies also attended.
Uvalde Assistant Police Chief Mike Davis instructed the 24-hour course in a classroom setting at the SSGT Willie de Leon Civic Center.
“Every targeted violence incident, there were behavioral indicators,” Davis said. “There were signs that perhaps people weren’t trained, they missed, didn’t know who to report to, or maybe there wasn’t a team out there. So, how do we create accountability? How do we manage these individuals long-term? Do they need to be in prison for a long time or do they need intensive mental health treatment? Do they need court-ordered services that maybe they couldn’t afford?”
These are just a few of the questions the training aims to help law enforcement agencies consider, especially the people who are closest to those who could pose a threat of violence to others.
Prevention is exactly what brought Uvalde Police Department Lt. Chris Hill to the training. He has worked in law enforcement for more than 25 years and previously worked in Uvalde following the Robb Elementary shooting.
Hill said he felt a calling to come back and work in Uvalde.
“It takes the entire community to make this program work and to find out that this is something that is available that can proactively stop some of the targeted violence that happens throughout the country is just amazing,” Hill said.
Hill is hopeful the training will prevent similar incidents to the Robb Elementary shooting as well as the Apalachee High School shooting Wednesday in Georgia.
“One piece of information, a Facebook post or a tweet may not be something that is absolutely criminal on its face value,” Hill said. “But, once you start adding the pieces in together, from what the school may know about this person and what law enforcement may know about this person and what their employer or previous employer may know … you can put a bunch of smaller things together.”
Hill described a “formula” that can figure out whether a person will perpetrate a violent attack in the future.
“There’s a formula that can diagnose, almost with a certainty, that this person has the propensity for a future targeted violence attack and that allows us to come in or counselors or EMS to come in and make contact with this person,” Hill said.
The training is free to the public. UPD hopes to provide additional training to the community to prevent violent situations from happening.