Preventing Targeted Violence

California educators and school staff play a vital role in creating safe and secure learning environments for students in California. There are several resources available for California schools to help prevent targeted school violence. These resources include:

• Schoolsafety.gov: This website provides a variety of resources to help schools prevent targeted violence including an operational guide for preventing targeted school violence, resources designed in partnership with the California Association of School Counselors, the U.S. Department of Education’s “Early Warning, Timely Response – A Guide to Safe Schools,” the School Violence Prevention Program (SVPP), Project Cal-STOP, Comprehensive School Safety Plans, and the Safe & Supportive Schools initiative.
• Violence Prevention Information: The California Department of Education provides information concerning violence prevention, safe storage of firearms, and school safety planning. It also offers resources for schools to use for violence prevention and supporting their school communities.
• Project Cal-STOP: This project targets high-need schools that can demonstrate a commitment to address school violence and reduce it through student education and staff training
• Safe & Supportive Schools: The Office of Elementary and Secondary Education provides schools, school districts, and state education agencies with resources aimed at creating and nurturing positive school climates, preventing school violence, and protecting the whole school community through school safety, security, and emergency management and preparedness planning.
• School Violence Prevention Program (SVPP): This program provides funding to improve school security by providing training and technical assistance to schools and law enforcement agencies. It also offers resources to identify students of concern, assess their risk for engaging in violence, and identify intervention strategies to mitigate that risk.
• Enhancing School Safety Using a Threat Assessment Model: An Operational Guide for Preventing Targeted School Violence: This guide provides basic instructions for schools on creating a targeted violence prevention plan, the focus of which is to decrease the risk of students engaging in harm to themselves or the school community.

Public safety officials and first responders play a pivotal role in preventing and addressing targeted violence incidents in California and are often the first on scene responders in the event of an act of targeted violence. Hence the need for resources to help them provide a swift and and effective response which can make a crucial difference in minimizing harm and saving lives. Some of these resources include:

• Law Enforcement Intelligence: A Guide for State, Local, and Tribal Law Enforcement Agencies (Third Edition)
• This guide provides information to aid law enforcement agencies in developing and operating an intelligence function that is efficient, effective, and lawful. The third edition also includes discussions and analysis of targeted violence, such as school shootings, right-wing extremism, drug trafficking, gangs, and various types of criminal enterprises.
• The Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) Behavioral Threat Assessment Center (BTAC) is the primary national resource for TATM matters related to FBI-led terrorism investigations. BTAC conducts training and research and provides behavior-based investigative and operational support—such as case consultations—to law enforcement, including to those personnel serving on TATM teams working on terrorism and targeted violence. BTAC’s services can be requested by law enforcement through your local BAU Threat Management Coordinator.
• National Counter Terrorism Center, First Responders Toolbox: First Responder Toolbox is an ad hoc, Unclassified//For Official Use Only, reference aid intended to promote counterterrorism coordination among federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial government authorities and partnerships with private sector officials in deterring, preventing, disrupting, and responding to terrorist attacks.
• IACP, Targeted Violence/Active Threat Resource: IACP hosts a resource page designed to bring together in one place some of the best thinking, most important lessons, and most helpful resources for police leaders, their officers, and communities.
• FBI, Active Shooter Safety Resources: This page offers valuable information and resources on how individuals can stay safe during active shooter incidents. It also provides access to educational materials, videos, and training programs to promote awareness and preparedness in the face of this critical public safety concern.

Protecting non-profit organizations and faith-based organizations from targeted violence is crucial. These organizations serve as pillars of support, fostering social cohesion and addressing community needs. There are available resources aimed at protecting and enhancing these types of organizations. These resources include:

• California State Non-Profit Security Grant Program (CANSGP)
  • The California State Non-Profit Security Grant Program, which was proposed by Governor Gavin Newsom and approved by the legislature, provides grants for physical security enhancements to nonprofit organizations that are at high risk for violent attacks and hate crimes to due ideology, beliefs, or mission.
  • On February 14, 2023, the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) announced the awarding of $47.5 million to 285 community groups across the state for reinforcing efforts to protect Californians from hate-motivated violence.
• Non-Profit Security Grant Program
  • The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) provides funding support for target hardening and other physical security enhancements and activities to nonprofit organizations that are at high risk of terrorist attack.
• Department of Homeland Security’s Center for Prevention Program’s and Partnerships (CP3)
  • CP3 seeks to prevent acts of targeted violence and terrorism by working with the whole of society to establish and expand local prevention frameworks. Through technical, financial, and educational assistance, CP3 supports local efforts that prevent individuals from radicalizing to violence and intervene with individuals who may be radicalizing, or have radicalized, to violence.
• Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention Grant Program
  • CP3 partners with DHS’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to administer the Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention Grants Program (TVTP), which provides funding for communities to expand prevention and intervention activities or address gaps in current prevention capabilities.
• Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency – Protecting Houses of Worship
  • In partnership with the Department of Homeland Security Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships and the Faith-Based Information Sharing and Analysis Organization, CISA provides resources that assist houses of worship in securing physical and cyber infrastructure. The resources include a guide, a self-assessment tool, trainings, exercises, and other materials focused on a wide range of man-made threats (e.g., bombing, active shooter, vehicle ramming, etc.).