Schools are a safe place for students and provide a space where they can look forward to being in a positive environment that promotes social and creative learning. A safe school atmosphere is linked to improved student wellbeing, both physically and emotionally, as well as school outcomes like academic performance. Teachers and education professionals do their utmost to protect students and keep everyone safe but there are increasingly alarming statistics surrounding gun violence that make safety an on-going challenge.  

Statistics Show Early Warning Is Possible

Gun violence is violence committed with the use of a firearm, that causes injury or death. School shootings, although still rare in comparison to daily gun violence, data shows they are happening more often and regularly come with warning signs: 

  • From 1974 to 2000, 93% of school shooters planned the attack in advance. 
  • In 4 out of 5 school shootings, at least one other person had knowledge of the attack but did not report it. 
  • 77% of active shooters, on average, spent a week or longer planning the attack. 
  • 75% of mass attackers prompted concern from others prior to their attacks  
  • Almost all documented cases of active shooters, warning signs were evident. 

How to Use Netsweeper for Warning Sign Detection 

As part of Netsweeper’s Education Ecosystem, onGuard scans all web content inline using intelligent analysis of onGuard Alert categories. In the the content triggers an alert, a screenshot is sent back to the policy service, which is logged, and it can be reported on. Reports contain trend information showing changes in user behaviour over time.

What is included in onGuard: 

  • In-line and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) analysis engine 
  • Scans page and desktop content as well as user-submitted data 
  • Detects restricted content based on multiple safeguarding themes 
  • Online and offline monitoring: implement on the network of offline on client device 
  • Capture screenshot of user desktop for review 
  • Custom alerts and reports on detection incidents (including desktop screenshots) 
  • Fully integrated into the core Netsweeper platform – Filtering, blocking, and monitoring 

Keeping Schools Safe from Gun Violence 

Gun violence and school shootings have become an increased cause of concern for parents and education professionals alike. Acts of violence has a ripple effect within communities but often come with warning signs that if detected early can help prevent tragic incidents from happening.   

Find out more about how Netsweeper can help by requesting a demo, or meet with one of our solutions specialists