GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — School threats have been reported at more than half a dozen West Michigan schools in the last week alone.
FOX 17 sat down with the Kent County prosecutor about the consequences.
“When it comes to these kind of threats, what are the consequences people face if they’re found to be making threats like this?” asked FOX 17's Julie Dunmire.
“It really depends. To some extent, most of the time when we’re getting these threats, you can see, we’ve had an increase on what we’ve charged over the last few years. It’s juveniles. They can’t go to prison; they can’t go to jail. But there’s still consequences,” Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker said.
The prosecutor says students who make false school threats could face probation, community service, suspension and expulsion.
“As an adult, yeah, you’re definitely looking at jail time, prison time,” Becker said.
In recent years, the prosecutor's office has been charging more people with one-year misdemeanors of intentional threats against schools. This was in part a response to the school shooting in Oxford, Michigan.
In 2020 there were six charges. In 2022: 32. In 2023: 68. So far in 2024, 26 people have been charged with making an intentional threat to a school.
“We’re charging it. If we can get a case and we can prove it, we’re charging it. It’s not like we’re saying 'don’t worry about it.' We’re filing charges given this day and age,” Becker said.
Jenision Public Shools closed on Friday due to a threat.
“We hate to ever cancel school. But we will always make sure that our kids' and staff’s safety is paramount to us,” Superintendent for Jenison Public Schools Brandon Graham said.
It's a frustrating thing for educators.
“It’s really frustrating for any educator to not have your kids in front of you. It's why we do what we do. It’s having our kids in classrooms and giving them the opportunity to learn. So as a leader, it’s really frustrating,” Graham said.
The Jenison superintendent says they're grateful for community members who spoke up with concerns. The prosecutor's office plans to take additional action.
“Given what’s going on now, we’re going to have a summit. We’re going to bring all the school resource officers in here. We're going to hopefully get the schools involved too, and let's sit down and talk more. What else can we do?” Becker said.
People with concerns about school safety can always anonymously report to OK2SAY.
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