Protecting Judicial Officials: Implementing an Effective Threat Management Process

• NCJ Number: 213930
• Date Published: June 2006
• Length: 8 pages
• Publication Series: BJA Bulletins
• Agencies: BJA
• Publication Type: Issue Overview

Annotation

This report presents the 10 golden rules in the development and implementation of an effective threat management process for the protection of judicial officials and aversion of violence.

Abstract

This report presents 10 basic elements for the successful implementation of a threat management process. These are the golden rules that demonstrate how the judiciary can identify, assess, investigate, and manage risks of violence to judicial officials. The judiciary needs to incorporate an effective threat management process for defusing the risk of violence before it erupts. An effective threat management process entails establishing procedures to enable the threat manager to identify potential problem individuals, assess the seriousness of the risk, investigate the circumstances and then devise the appropriate strategies for managing the subject. The 10 golden rules for implementing an effective threat management process include: (1) recognizing the need for a threat management process; (2) assigning responsibility of managing cases to trained threat managers; (3) providing training for and establish liaison with protectees and court staff; (4) creating an incident tracking system with well-documented files; (5) establishing liaison with other agencies; (6) using consistent and valid threat assessment methods; (7) conducting thorough fact finding; (8) applying threat management strategies flexibly and intelligently; (9) communicating with protectees in a professional, confident, and competent manner; and (10) managing cases appropriately. Following the “10 golden rules” will further enhance the judiciary’s security.