A recent uptick in threats of mass violence at Harford County Public Schools has school and law enforcement officials saying that communication and collaboration are key in identifying suspects, minimizing school day disruptions and ending the trend.

Since the start of the school year about 100 threats made to Harford schools have been investigated by the Harford County Sheriff’s Office. Six of those threats were made at five schools in the past week.

The most recent scare was a bomb threat emailed to Bel Air High School Monday morning. According to an email from Principal Rob Deleva, the school was not evacuated since the threat was quickly deemed not credible.

School and law enforcement officials said Monday’s threat resembled a slew of bomb threat emails sent to numerous schools across the state last week that targeted Havre de Grace Middle/High School, Patterson Mill Middle/High School, Joppatowne High School and Harford Technical High School. Of the four schools, Havre de Grace Middle/High was the only one to fully evacuate students and staff Monday.

The other three schools were not evacuated after county law enforcement determined that the threat was not credible and that the email was sent from overseas.

Superintendent of Schools Sean Bulson said each threat “demands a full investigation” and an “immediate response” to ensure school safety.

“These are not harmless pranks. These threats disrupt learning, create real fear and anxiety and force schools into crisis mode,” Bulson wrote in an email to school community members. “When threats are made, school operations are interrupted, support services are diverted, and valuable instructional time is lost.”

On Friday, a call threatening violence at Bel Air High School prompted a lockdown of the school and a large police response. A social media video showed numerous sheriff’s office vehicles speeding toward the school before two of the vehicles crashed into each other.

Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler confirmed that no one was injured in the crash, but emphasized the real safety concerns the threats yield, regardless of their credibility.

“You have police officers responding to probably one of the most stressful calls they can get, in less-than-ideal weather conditions,” Gahler said. “The deputy in the car isn’t at fault for the accident. The person at fault is the person who made the threat against the school that I’d like to hold criminally responsible.”

Gahler said the sheriff’s office works with the Maryland Coordination and Analysis Center, which helps identify trends such as mass bomb threat hoaxes. He said communication is critical when handling threats and that all information the sheriff’s office receives is passed directly to school officials.

Without close collaboration and clear communication among state officials, local law enforcement and school officials, the district could have had four evacuations last week.

“Unfortunately, we have a lot of practice with these [threats] so our response from our law enforcement partners and our school safety office has been impeccable,” said Board of Education President Aaron Poynton. “I have zero tolerance for any of these threats, and I will work closely with law enforcement to ensure we can help find and hold those accountable.”

Poynton noted that the district’s school safety office and local law enforcement partners are working to further enhance communication to remain ahead of school threats and potentially minimize any disruptions caused by future threats.

The sheriff’s office investigated 33 school threats at the start of this school year after the fatal shooting of 15-year-old Warren Grant at Joppatowne High School in September.

Gahler said there was a natural uptick in reported threats made on social media following the shooting due to a heightened awareness about school safety. All threats, Gahler said, are thoroughly investigated and of the 33 threats made at the start of the school year, three people were criminally charged.

Each of the recent school threats is being investigated by local law enforcement, Gahler said, but since last week’s threat was found to have come from outside the country, finding a suspect will be a challenge.

“We are going to investigate to the fullest of our abilities and if we are able to find perpetrators, we are going to charge them,” Gahler said. “We have a state’s attorney to prosecute them, and I have a jail to house them.”

During the 2022-2023 school year, the sheriff’s office tracked 74 school threats across schools not within Havre de Grace, Aberdeen or Bel Air municipalities; those schools are overseen by local police departments.

In the 2023-2024 school year, that number grew to 82 threats. This year, the sheriff’s office began overseeing schools in Aberdeen and though the number is not yet official, sheriff’s office officials speculate that they will end the school year with close to 100 school threats investigated.

By law, all middle and high schools in Harford County have student resource officers — uniformed police who work within the school building. Additionally, every middle school and high school has a school safety liaison that is employed by the school system.

The sheriff’s office has officers who float among each of the elementary schools, but do not serve in them full time. Similarly, school safety liaisons cover elementary schools on a rotating, as-needed basis.

Since the Joppatowne High School shooting and amid a statewide uptick in school threats, the Harford school system has used 11 weapons detection systems, also on an as-needed basis, at school sporting events and other school-related events.

Have a news tip? Contact Matt Hubbard at mhubbard@baltsun.com, 443-651-0101 or @mthubb on X.