When Should I Contact the Behavioral Evaluation and Threat Assessment Team?
If you have a concern that an individual may harm others, please reach out. To report a threat, select the "Report a Concern" button. If this is an emergency situation, please call 911 or the University of Oregon Police Department at 541-346-2919, and press 0.
Warning Signs
Warning signs can manifest themselves in many forms: one-on-one settings, group interaction, public behavior, letters, emails, blogs, websites, social networking sites, photos, phone calls, text messages, etc. The following list of warning signs is not intended to be fully comprehensive.
What a Person Is communicating:
- Threatening communication
- Expressed intent to harm someone
- Homicidal fantasies
- Sending disturbing messages (i.e. texts, e-mails, letters) to students/staff/faculty.
- Coursework content that is alarming
- Making statements that supports the use of violence to resolve issues
What a Person Is Doing:
- Anger problems
- Habitual pattern of violating campus policies or laws
- Disruptive behavior/irritability/abrasive towards another
- Alienates him/herself from others/family
- Unexplained absenteeism
- Increase in alcohol or drug use
- Changes in behavior (sudden or otherwise)
How a Person Is Doing:
- Increasing stress, desperation, despair, humiliation, shame
- Preoccupation with felt insults
- Holds grudges
- Irrationally suspicious or bizarre beliefs
- Bizarre behavior
- Displays paranoia
- Change in appearance/declining hygiene
- Identifying with other persons who engaged in past violence toward others
- Stalking – fear-inducing behavior
Situations or Circumstances:
- Negative or adversarial work/school relationships
- Conflicts with others
- Recent or likely loss of job/income/academic/relationship
- Social isolation
- Domestic or intimate partner violence
- Access to weapons – brings weapons to campus
If you recognize any of these warning signs, you are encouraged to notify someone immediately about your concerns. If you or someone you know is in an emergency situation, please call 911 or the University of Oregon Police Department at 541-346-2919, and press 0.
We encourage you to become familiar with violence prevention programs on campus and to utilize those resources when you feel it necessary. The most important component of violence prevention and threat assessment is the communication of observed behavior to the appropriate resources, so that intervention can occur before something happens.
(This material is adapted from original content found on Stanford University's Threat and Violence Prevention page. We appreciate Stanford University for granting us to permission to adapt its content for the University of Oregon’s benefit.)
Pathway to Violence
The Pathway to Violence video, presented by the US Department of Homeland Security, provides information regarding the behavioral indicators that assailants often demonstrate before a violent act. Behavior experts provide insightful information on threat management and further describe the six progressive steps that may be observable by colleagues. The video also includes law enforcement expert interviews that discuss engagement strategies and recommended responses to someone potentially on a pathway to violence.