More than a dozen states across the country have been dealing with hoax threats against schools. Officials in West Virginia continue to monitor the issue.
As of Monday, 216 school threats have been received statewide since Sept. 5, according to the West Virginia Department of Homeland Security.
Those threats have impacted schools in 38 counties, with close to 80 different schools named.
Jack Luikart is the director of the state’s Fusion Center, a collaboration of multiple agencies to centralize information and maximize investigative capacity. He said Thursday that students making threats as a joke do not understand the severity of the situation, and an informational campaign is the next step.
“We are asking everyone to work together in each and every county, and our county prosecutors [to] contact their local board of education and their school principals,” Luikart said. “Start with our high schools and middle schools, and have a prosecuting attorney and a law enforcement officer go to our schools, hold an assembly and explain to the students the penalties associated with making these threats.”
Luikart said people need to understand that deleting posts from a device does not deter law enforcement.
“The technology and resources that we possess, and our partners possess… [can trace] back to the original person,” he said. “When that person is found out, then the prosecuting attorneys hold those people accountable. We’re hoping to get this off the ground immediately.”
More than 20 people have been arrested in West Virginia in connection to the threats, many of whom are facing felony charges.
Hancock County prosecutor Steven Dragisich told WVPB last week it doesn’t matter if a threat was meant to be a prank.
“Whether or not they intend to carry out, if they make a threat, and they make a threat like this, they will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, regardless of whether they’re a juvenile or an adult,” he said.