TAMPA, Fla. — As students return to school, their safety is a top priority.
Throughout the year, local districts work with law enforcement to implement safety plans against outside threats and those from inside.
Each school year, we hear about students using social media to make "fake" school threats.
Watch report from Tampa Bay 28 anchor Andrew Kinsey
Just last week, the FBI issued a stern warning about this, urging parents to talk to their kids about the consequences and to monitor their online activity. It’s a warning echoed locally by state attorney Suzy Lopez. She talked with Good Morning Tampa Bay anchor Andrew Kinsey about the seriousness of these threats.
Lopez said while students may think it's just a joke or a way to get attention, they could lead to jail time!
“Everything is taken seriously from the moment that law enforcement gets it, and there's an investigation that's done. Law enforcement will work with the state attorney's office, with the Hillsborough County public school system, determine does this child have access to guns at home? What is this child's academic record? Do they have a prior criminal history? And so, each case from the moment it comes in is taken very, very seriously because we never know what's going to be the one,” explained Lopez.
Lopez said most of the threats they’ve seen have come from students in middle and high school.
Here in Florida, making a threat to a school, a written threat to kill or do bodily injury, or a false report concerning a bomb or firearm is a second-degree felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison. It’s a punishment that could impact college admissions and even future employment.
Law enforcement advises parents to make sure their children are mindful about what they post online, think twice, and, if they see something that can be perceived as a threat, report it.
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