Workplace & School Violence is the priority for a While …and preventing
Written by Robert D. Sollars
This wasn’t a joke for April Fool’s Day, obviously since I’m behind on my postings… I intend on attempting to show you and convince you that workplace & school violence (WPV/SV) is real and, believe it or not, nearly 95% of injurious or fatal incidents can be prevented. Obviously, many of the incidents can’t be prevented, but as I’ve said for decades…there are ALWAYS WARNING SIGNS!
It’s up to YOU, the average person who either attends a school or works with an individual who may pop their cork to do something about it. Another saying I’ve used for decades, nearly 30 years, is you can either act upon or ignore the warning signs.
To go and push your sensibilities, and lost in fantasy land brains, a bit further, another thing I’ve spouted for just as long as the above sayings…IT CAN HAPPEN TO ANYONE, ANY TIME, ANYWHERE FOR ANY REASON! It was illustrated by the murder of a reporter and a mother in Orlando FL. On February 22.
If you don’t recollect that incident, a reporter and his photographer were covering a murder scene in which a 38-year-old young woman was murdered. The perpetrator came back to the crime scene, shot and killed the reporter and critically wounded the photographer while they were sitting in their truck. Additionally, a mother & her 9-year-old daughter were at a house, not involved with the scene, and were also shot. The 19-year-old perpetrator burst into their home and started shooting, for no apparent reason. The little girl was killed and her mother was critically wounded. Fortunately, the perpetrator was arrested and now has a murder rap to compound his 15 other arrests for violent crimes…by the way, he is 19.
Since the pandemic started in 2020, and the lockdowns and all of the other crap that it caused, violent crime is up exponentially in the United States. This year alone, already, I’ve recorded more than a hundred incidents of WPV/SV. And again, if you don’t remember, the University of South Florida stated in a report, in 2005, that more than 15 million incidents occurred each and every year. That number has now climbed to more than 16 million a year with the number of recent incidents, since the pandemic.
WPV/SV doesn’t just occur with a firearm. It can happen with a knife, coffee cups, pencils, trash cans, vandalism, arson, & even verbal tirades. Anything that can be used as a weapon will be used as a weapon in a WPV/SV event.
NEVER dismiss any incident in which someone loses their temper while either in school or at a place of employment. That’s only allowing a lit fuse to start the slow burn to the explosion. I hope it never happens to you, your family, your friends, or your organization, but it can and probably will at some point. Take heed of these profiles, attitudes, warning signs, & the excuses that people make about an individual.
www.sollarsviolenceprevention.com Twitter: RobertSollars2 e-mail: robert@sollarsviolenceprevention.com
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It happens to Anyone…Any Time…Anywhere… For any Reason
I May Be Blind, but My Vision Is Crystal Clear
Copyright 2023 Robert D. Sollars
