With a focus on school threats following a deadly school shooting in Florida, the Sarpy County sheriff says they've benefited from an anonymous online tips system.
The online system is aimed at students, but anyone can make a submission. A TIPS icon can be found on school and law enforcement websites in the county.
Students are encouraged to speak up if they're concerned about a friend or classmate through the tips system, which was implemented in 2016.
"We haven't seen our last school shooting in this country unfortunately so the goal is to through the threat assessment and the tips to try to stop the next one," Sheriff Jeff Davis said. "You're talking about high school kids here that deal in a different arena than I did. its all social media. and they wouldn't want someone to blame them for ratting someone else out, but we want them to feel safe."
Davis says there has already been two dozen tips this year. Last year, they had 170 tips total.
In addition to potential school threats, many tips come in about someone considering harming themselves, or an academic issue like plagiarism.
A threat assessment team - including the sheriffs office, police departments, schools and psychologists - then responds.
