Report page 24

BTAU policies should ensure that the objectives of the unit align with the objectives of behavioral threat assessment.

The primary objective of a behavioral threat assessment is prevention, not criminal prosecution.

Although criminal prosecution may be required or warranted in certain instances (see STEP 5: Develop Risk Management Strategies), BTAUs should prioritize the assessment and management of risk as the unit’s primary objective.

Many cases may not involve a criminal violation but will still require action to assist an individual in crisis or mitigate the potential risk for violence.

As an example, Secret Service policy states that the primary objective of Secret Service Protective Intelligence investigations is to gather and evaluate information about potential risks to the people, places, and events the agency protects. Secret Service policy clearly establishes that investigating violations of federal criminal statute as part of a Protective Intelligence investigation is a secondary objective.

Although BTAU objectives may differ based on the agency in which the unit resides, the primary objective of any BTAU should be violence prevention.

BTAU policies should clearly establish the thresholds for initiating a behavioral threat assessment, and those thresholds should not be limited to criminal behaviors or direct threats.

For example, while making a direct threat against the president would initiate a behavioral threat assessment, it is not the Secret Service’s sole threshold. The Secret Service initiates a Protective Intelligence investigation when an individual displays a threatening or concerning direction of interest toward any person or place protected by the agency.

Similarly, a BTAU should initiate a behavioral threat assessment in response to concerning behaviors.

Concerning behaviors include actions or communications by an individual that are troubling or inappropriate and indicate a potential risk of violence.

Concerning behaviors exist along a continuum of criminal and non-criminal activities and may include escalating interpersonal disputes, grievances, concerning social media content, stalking and harassing, obsessions with violence, idolizing past attackers, fixating on people or locations, suicidal ideations, self-harm, unusual levels of aggression, threats, or other behaviors that elicit concerns for safety.

As such, the threshold for initiating a behavioral threat assessment should include behaviors along this entire continuum, not only behaviors that have a criminal nexus.

When criminal acts have occurred, the resulting criminal investigation will occur parallel to the behavioral threat assessment.

Early intervention is at the core of a BTAU’s involvement in managing concerning behaviors, with an emphasis on guiding the outcome of the situation to an end that does not result in violence or other criminal behavior.

In doing so, BTAUs must operate with an understanding of individual rights protected by the U.S. Constitution, including freedom of speech.

Within the boundaries of these protections, BTAUs should operate with a low threshold of concern, promoting early intervention and de-escalation wherever possible.