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SANTA CRUZ, Calif. -- The reason why so many colleges have a Threat Assessment Team is to prevent a tragedy like Virginia Tech from happening again.
UCSC Risk & Safety Services Coordinator Jean Marie Scott says schools have always put safety as a priority for students, but it vamped up even more after Virginia Tech. "It was really post Virginia Tech where across the nation we saw a major increase in terms of the need to better coordinate," said Scott.
UC Santa Cruz Police Chief Nader Oweis said they take no chances and no tip is ignored. "It could be a vague comment and yes we do investigate. We take threats very seriously, said Oweis.
Schools like UC Santa Cruz, Cal State Monterey Bay, and Hartnell Community College told Central Coast news that staff, faculty and police meet weekly to talk about issues on campus and deal with tips that come in from the community. If something come up as a red flag it's handed over to police. "You determine one is it a criminal act that may be committed, do we need to investigate this as a crime or is this potentially mental health issue?" said Oweis.
California law mandates counselors must report to police a threat or intent to harm or kill another person. If its an issue on campus students are notified through email, phone and text alerts.
In a situation like James Holmes' who left the university and dropped off the team's radar, there's a plan in place on the Central Coast where the school will notify police about the person. "If we get additional information by which we need to pass on to other law enforcement agencies we definitely pass that on," said Oweis.
CSUMB staff say one of the challenges for schools passing on information to other departments is being able to track down where the student has moved to.
