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J. Kevin Cameron is an expert on school-based violence.
By John McDonald
More than a hundred Okanagan College staff are in the midst of a two-day seminar with an expert in school-based violence, learning how to spot students or staff who may become a threat to others.
Staff from all areas of the college, plus some local RCMP, will hear J. Kevin Cameron, executive director of the Canadian Centre for Threat Assessment and Trauma Response, speak on all levels of school-based violence, from threats made against an instructor, to a fight inside a college dorm, to the much-more deadly school shootings such as those at W.R Myers high school in Taber, Alberta, and at Dawson College and Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal.
And while those examples of school-based violence are much more widely publicized, Cameron says the lesser examples are of just as much concern for what they may portend; which student or staff member has the potential to take school violence to the extreme.
“We need to look at any and all combinations of violence,” Cameron said. “Violence threat risk assessment is really based on one simple fact; most serious acts of violence have indicators well in advance of when they occur. It allows us to see if someone is evolving on the path to violence.”
The media, Cameron says, has perpetuated the myth of the “snap theory” of violence, where someone will suddenly lose it, load up on guns and ammo and head to the nearest school or post office.
“They media will rush out and talk to a neighbour or someone who says they knew him, and they all say ‘he was such a nice guy, I don’t understand it’,” said Cameron. “The reality is that they almost always build up to it, and send out signals of their intentions. Serious violence is an evolutionary process.”
What Okanagan College staff are learning, he adds, is how to “connect the dots.”
“The person may have only exhibited signs in one area,” said Cameron. “Maybe the police know how dangerous an individual is, but it may not be known on campus. A student may be well-behaved in one classroom, and the professor says they’re great, whereas another instructor, if asked, might say they’ve been saying and doing strange things.”
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I suggest that Mr Koehle should reflect on incidents equally damaging to students and staff involving harassment and bullying that lead to more traumatic events for those involved. Staff that had the courage to come forward over a year ago in an impossible situation and try to put a stop to these events, were completely ignored, muzzled, forced from their jobs and left to suffer broken work relationships and ongoing marginalization. To this day they have never been properly commended for their actions. I feel that a lesson can be learned from Mr.Cameron and hope that perhaps some in upper management have learned to open their eyes as well as listen. Maybe a simple thank you would be in order.
Please continue discussion on the forum: link