SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — State leaders are raising concerns about flaws in how Utah schools handle credible threats to student safety.
During a Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice interim committee hearing Wednesday, lawmakers debated whether warning signs are being missed because of inconsistent threat assessments and unclear follow-up responsibilities.
“How we handle threat assessments is a big deal, and it’s one of the last gaping holes,” said State Rep. Ryan Wilcox, who represents District 7. He pointed out that state law requires a multi-disciplinary assessment for every situation where a school identifies a credible threat.
“Those are not being executed in a consistent manner; those are not being carried out,” he said. He stressed the risk is real, telling his colleagues, “We can’t let those fall through the cracks.” Lawmakers and members of law enforcement moved into a closed session to hear testimony tied to an ongoing investigation about schools handling threats, according to Wilcox. “The case that I have to share with you later is terrifying,” he said.
Utah State Security Chief Matt Pennington told lawmakers that the problem starts with assembling the team meant to respond to these threats. “Some of the gaps that we’re dealing with, one the multidisciplinary team being done correctly,” Pennington said.
Pennington also described a second gap as once a threat is recognized, it’s not always clear who is responsible for tracking the student involved. “And we find out they were in school but they are no longer in school we’ve had a couple of those incidents recently that are pretty significant and there’s not a crime that’s happened but we have a lot of indicators and warning signs,” Pennington said.
Lawmakers finished the hearing without taking action and plan to continue discussions and debate possible new laws that they say would close these gaps during the 2027 legislative session.
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Source: kjzz.com
