School shootings: Wisconsin law enforcement message to families
WEST BEND, Wis. - If you see something, say something: That's the message from Wisconsin law enforcement after last week's mass school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
The West Bend police chief and Dodge County sheriff say everyone plays an important role in helping reduce school violence.
"What we’ve decided to do at the sheriff’s office is start to have a conversation about what is it that we’ve done? What can we do more?" said Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt.
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The sheriff shares a message with the community each month. This time around, it involves the school shooting in Texas. He said his deputies are always prepared.
"If we have an active shooter in a school that we certainly are going to be making entry as soon as possible to go and make sure that we stop the threat right away," said Schmidt. "We don’t know what happened in Texas because we don’t have all the facts."
Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt
It is also important to focus on safety and building relationships.
"That’s why we put out an additional presence to all of our Dodge County schools by our sheriff’s deputies asking them to stop at the school, say hi to the teachers. Say hi to the kids and form relationships," Schmidt said.
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Thirty-one miles east of the sheriff's office, there is another message from West Bend Police Chief Tim Dehring.
"The West Bend Police Department had a zero tolerance policy towards any school threats, language about school threats, jokes about school threats. Snapchat, social media posts about school threats," he said.
West Bend Police Chief Tim Dehring
In a nearly four-minute video uploaded to Facebook, the police chief also calls on parents to talk with their children.
"In 2022, any language about school threats in an educational environment is the same. Please have your conversation. Make sure they understand," said Dehring.
The chief also asks parents to keep track of their kids' cellphone use – adding that if you pay for it, make sure you have access to it.
FOX6 also asked Milwaukee police for its thoughts on school violence. The department released the following statement:
"The Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) takes the threat of violence at our schools very seriously. MPD recently trained over 1,100 members in active shooter training that was completed February 2022 to prepare us for any potential threat of an active shooter. Individuals making social media threats or jokes could face criminal charges or be arrested depending on the circumstances. We continue to collaborate with MPS Security to ensure the safety of all our students. MPD is committed to working with our community and system partners and is actively working on launching an application that will assist in reporting potential threats or school violence. More information regarding this application will be available in the near future."