School districts NOT in lockdown Tuesday; making sure all procedures are in place in case of emergency
Update: The Pocatello Police Department says they have identified the person they say made a non specific threat against schools in Pocatello. The suspect is being interviewed by police.
No further information will be released at this time.
Original Story: Pocatello Police are investigating an unsubstantiated, non-specific, threat made against Pocatello/Chubbuck School District 25.
The threat was made over social media. Police made the school district aware of the threat on Sunday.
Returning to school Tuesday after President’s Day, schools made sure all safety precautions and procedures were in place, in case of an emergency.
The school districts are not on lockdown, they are on heightened alert only Tuesday.
The Director of Student Support Services, Kent Hobbs, said nothing is really out of the ordinary Tuesday. They’re going through the standard procedures they have on a daily basis to make sure teachers and staff are aware of them.
“It’s standard operating procedures, just a little extra attention today simply because there is something that has been brought to our attention,” said Hobbs.
Hobbs said they’re reminding staff to monitor who comes in and out of the buildings and make sure that people have a visitor’s badge or some form of identification. This way they know who are in the buildings at all times.
Hobbs said they are on heightened alert, but really all that’s happening is they’re doing a drill, making sure all procedures are in place and are effective. He said they have to take everything seriously to ensure the safety of their students.
“We take all threats seriously, we have to take all threats seriously,” said Hobbs. “Even though it was very generalized, very unsubstantiated, not specific at all, we are just reminding members of our staff, and our building specifically, that they need to follow standard operating procedures.”
Hobbs wanted to emphasize that the schools are not in lockdown or a controlled access situation.
“We’re just asking people to be on heightened alert and pay attention if there are things unusual or out of the ordinary,” said Hobbs.
Hobbs said the school district and police are working together on this.
“People need to understand that they disrupt the business of the schools, they disrupt life for the police department, life for teachers and everything else, with silly comments that they think are funny or that they’re making in jest. And we have to take them seriously,” said Hobbs.
Police are investigating to try and track where the threat came from.