Mich. Prosecutor Forms Task Force to Handle School Threats

Muskegon County Prosecutor D.J. Hilson, along with multiple law enforcement agencies and the county's school districts, has formed a new task force to better deal with threats made toward schools.

The task force was announced Monday, as Fruitport Community Schools remained closed due to a threat received late the previous week.

"The task force was designed and put together to devote law enforcement resources to this specific issue, with the goal in mind to be able to work exclusively on any threats that come into our districts — to investigate these cases quickly and efficiently," Hilson said.

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The No. 1 priority, according to Hilson, is to provide a safe environment for students and teachers as they go to school each day. A second aspect of the task force is to hold those who make the threats accountable.

"This is brand new as of yesterday," Hilson said Tuesday morning. "The chiefs, sheriff, federal agencies, the Michigan State Police and myself all met yesterday morning to work not only to put out a coordinated message but also to ask: How can we utilize our resources in a coordinated effort? We decided this task force will begin with a meeting today as we're working through the various complaints the districts have received the last couple of days.

"Ultimately, the task force is to investigate, but also to provide as much information as possible to the school districts involved," he added.

Hilson said there are currently five to six separate incidents being investigated, and that those threats were initiated via social media. He outlined some of the challenges involved in backtracking those threats.

"Just like anything you're investigating through social media, it requires contacting those social media sites, sending in what we call preservation letters to preserve any content," Hilson explained. "Then, just like any other criminal investigation, there is due process involved. We executed 3-4 search warrants yesterday to obtain various pieces of information that would hopefully help direct us to where the posts originated — who the potential subscriber to the post might be.

"We still have law procedures we have to follow to get the information," he added, "and, thankfully, we've had a lot of cooperation from various social media sites. Law enforcement is doing a great job providing my office with information so we can craft search warrants. We're hoping for a quick turnaround."

According to the prosecutor, punishment for making threats toward a school range from a one-year misdemeanor a felony punishable by up to 20 years.

Hilson said threats are certainly more common in the days following an actual event such as what took place in Oxford last week. But regardless of the situation, he said, every threat is dealt with seriously.

"We're committed both from the law enforcement end and our educational partners to treat these as serious as they come across, to make sure we're providing the safe and secure learning environment our students deserve," Hilson said.

To introduce the task force, a video was created and can be viewed on the Fruitport Community Schools' Facebook page.

Late Tuesday afternoon, the Muskegon County Sheriff's Office announced that it has a suspect in the recent threat made to Oakridge Public Schools and has forwarded the charges to the Muskegon County Prosecutor's Office. Through its investigation, the Sheriff's Office said it has identified the source of the threat as a freshman student at Oakridge High School.

" Task Force investigators are continuing to investigate the incident to determine any additional suspects," said Detective Sgt. Tom Johnson. "In addition to criminal charges, this suspect will be facing school discipline, up to and including expulsion."

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