In 2002, the U.S. Secret Service completed the Safe School Initiative, a study of school shootings and other school-based attacks conducted in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Education. The focus of the study was developing information about school shooters' pre-attack behaviors and communications. The goal was to identify information about a school shooting that may be identifiable or noticeable before the shooting occurs, to help inform efforts to prevent school-based attacks.

SI staff David Swink and Barry Spodak partnered with the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Education, touring the country and educating school staff and police on how to assess and manage potentially violent school situations. They used Strategic Interaction's behavioral simulation approach to train thousands of participants. This ground-breaking program was featured on CBS’s 60 Minutes on May 15th 2002.  You can read a transcript of the show at: www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/05/15/60II/main509196.shtml

After the nation-wide training, it was decided that the Secret Service and Department of Education would further educate school personnel by producing an in-depth interactive video that would be sent to school systems throughout the country.  Two years in the making, this CD is being released in January of 2007. Swink and Spodak designed the simulations and the characters that are the heart of this project.

The CD will be distributed to law enforcement and school safety personnel across the country and can be ordered via the Department of Education website at http://www.edpubs.org/.  

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