MADISON, Wis. — On Thursday, 14 year old Colt Gray brought an assault rifle to a Georgia high school and has been charged with killing two students and two teachers.

When school shootings happen anywhere in the country, parents are left wondering if their kids will be safe. 

The Wisconsin Office of School Safety was created in 2018 following the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. It is run through the Wisconsin Department of Justice. 

The Wisconsin Office of School Safety runs a 24-hour call center called “Speak Up Speak Out Wisconsin.”

Trish Kilpin is the director of the Office for School Safety for the Wisconsin Department of Justice. 

She said the call center was started in 2020 and it has received over 11,000 tips. 

“Most of our tips are related to bullying,” said Kilpin. “We have tips we receive with people thinking about suicide and we have received over 250 tips about planned school attacks here in Wisconsin.” 

Kilpin said once those tips are received, the information is relayed to the proper authorities or first responders to handle the situation. 

She said the goal is not to get kids involved with the criminal justice system. 

Instead, their organization aims to connect children with the resources needed to prevent crimes from happening.

She said her office does that through a process of threat assessment. 

“The process of figuring out why a child is using violence to resolve their problem or their grievance or their upset and then having a trained team at the school and law enforcement level that can look at the totality of the students’ circumstances,” said Kilpin. 

Kilpin said even if the threat is low, it is important to intervene early.

“There is no profile of a school shooter, there is no checklist that says this person is going to conduct this type of act, but we do know that people who engage in school shootings tend to demonstrate significant warning signs,” said Kilpin. 

She said some of those signs include a fascination with weapons, expressing hate and a deterioration of mental wellness. 

Kilpin said Wisconsinites can learn how to detect these signs by taking a one hour course offered by her office. 

“It is a one hour course that is available to anyone. So, I would encourage people to be empowered and how do we know if someone is planning an act of violence and where can we report that,” said Kilpin. 

Kilpin said it is the job of the “Speak Up Speak Out” program to alert communities about possible threats. 

She added in order to keep our youth safe, we all have to work together and look out for our neighbors.