Reasons for reporting or failing to report threatening behaviors to authorities

• In Event: Campus Threat Assessment: Empirical Analysis of Problem Behavior, Reporting Patterns, and Implications for Community Policing

Abstract

Past research on students’ willingness to report threatening behaviors has largely focused on adolescent samples. Recent studies involving college samples have been limited to vignette designs or focused on a specific threatening behavior. This study sought to examine reporting tendencies in a sample of students who observed various types of threatening behaviors on campus. A total of 1075 students from a Midwestern university responded an anonymous online survey. Almost 40% (n = 413) reported observing threatening behaviors including threats, vandalism, assault, sexual assault, and repeated unwanted approaches. A fifth of the sample took action of some kind after observing the threatening behavior, such as speaking with the threatening individual. Yet, only 10% notified police or the university administrator. The most common reason for contacting authorities was concern that the threatening behavior or person was dangerous. By contrast, students who did not notify authorities most often did so because they perceived the situation as a non-dangerous, personal issue. Situations reported to authorities were more likely to end in physical and/or sexual assaults, which corresponded to students’ perceptions of dangerousness. Implication of reporting strategies for community policing will be discussed.

Authors

• Heath Hodges, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

• Rosa Vinas-Racionero, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

• Brandon Hollister, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

• Mario Scalora, University of Nebraska - Lincoln