Parents to Be Held Accountable for School Threats Made by Their Kids

Threats of violence against schools are getting out of hand, and several communities are getting tired and frustrated, ready to crack down, especially the authorities working day and night to investigate, only to find out that the threats are a hoax.

In Macomb County, Michigan, Wednesday, school threats abound as a scribbled note in the school bathroom of South Lyon East High School and a student from Taylor, Redford, posted a gun on social media threatening to shoot the principal in the head.

Another threat was received by St. Clair Shores South Lake High School, but specifics were withheld from the public, except that parents were messaged that the students would be under a lockdown during their second-hour classroom as the threat is being investigated, WWJ reported.

All three schools were shut down, and police were on the scene to ensure that the schools were safe. If the school were not put on temporary lockdown, they would need to shut down the school, evacuate students and end classes early. Activities that involve a lot of work and are recently getting on a lot of nerves.

Leaders Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido and Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said that something urgent needs to be done as threats surfaced almost every day.

Parents, responsible for their kids' actions

Just this year, 47 individuals in Macomb County have been charged with making school threats. This is a 50 percent increase from last year when only 25 people were charged. More alarming, though, is that a 13-year-old was charged for allegedly threatening to shoot three schools in Warren and Sterling Heights.

Thus, Macomb County is now prioritizing making parents and students understand the serious consequences of these hoax threats.

Lucido is implementing the "one, two punch" strategy to end, if not lessen, the ongoing hoax school threats.

Lucido told CBS Detroit, "Parents need to really step up their game or they're responsible for the actions of their children. If they had a talk with them, and they're still going to break the law, parents, you're going to have to pay out of your pocket. What I'm going to tell everybody is, I think that the schools ought to go ahead and recoup the expenses and the cost for the school as it relates to paying the school back, because why should taxpayers that didn't break the law, have it come out of their pocket?"

Moreover, law enforcement is visiting classrooms to inform students of the charges they will be facing for making fake threats:

• A 20-year felony for communicating a threat of terrorism.
• A 4-year felony for calling in a bomb threat.
• A 6-month misdemeanor for malicious use of an electronic device.
• A 1-year misdemeanor for threatening violence against a school employee or student.

Lastly, Lucido will give a "Hero Award" to students or staff members who report a threat to a school.

Starts with parenting

Another place in Michigan, Eastpointe, is going through the same problem of "bogus" school threats.

Their most recent case was a month ago, and it prompted Eastpointe Public Safety Chief George Rouhib to approach the city council last Tuesday and make parents accountable for their kids' poor decisions. They look to the city council to toughen the rules to hold parents responsible for a child's poor decisions.

Rouhib wanted parents to be charged with the police department's costs as school threats take a lot of their resources.

He told Local 4 that in last month's case, he utilized all 5 of the community's detectives, who set aside all their other work to investigate and deal with the bogus threat. And to think, these detectives get 80 to 100 calls a day in the area, according to him.

One council member, however, voted against the chief's suggestion stating that it isn't right for the police department to be sending invoices. The judicial system should be the one handling the consequences of actions.

In the end, the first reading had a 3-2 vote from the council.

Iesha Miles, an Eastpointe parent, agreed with Rouhib, declaring that it truly starts at home and with parenting. If a child is doing bad things, the parents should be penalized since it is their child.