At 11:32 a.m. on April 28, Stevenson High School implemented a secure campus after an unknown individual made threatening statements over a phone call to the Lincolnshire Police Department (LPD). The administration immediately responded by locking all doors and positioning security guards and police officers at each entrance.
As opposed to a full lockdown, which prevents students from leaving their classrooms, a secure campus means no one is allowed to enter or leave the building without valid identification and a specific reason. In addition to the safety measures taken for students, Assistant Principal of Operations Eric Ramos explains how Stevenson did not deal with this threat alone.
“Thankfully the caller stayed on the line, so the LPD was getting information continuously as we were dealing with the threat here at Stevenson,” Ramos said.
Stevenson was able to identify that the threat suggested in this call was likely meant to purely cause chaos, an example of a swatting event. According to a report by the Library of Congress, 446 swatting incidents like these were reported in the 2022-2023 school year. In the early moments of these scenarios, Principal Troy Gobble stresses the importance of working in tandem with the LPD to support student safety.
“The police tell us about these situations, as they are usually not happening on campus,” Gobble said. “They say ‘we think that the situation is weird, and you should probably carry out these procedures.’”
According to Gobble, the police department and Stevenson frequently communicate with each other as they often run through practice drills in the East Building, familiarizing themselves with the school. Along with this collaboration with the LPD, Stevenson received assistance from other governmental agencies to rule out any potential threats.
“We invited bomb sniffing dogs from around the county and ended up having six dogs running around, two of which were from the naval base,” Gobble said.
Meanwhile, Ramos explains that internal security was handled by an over 40-person security team who responded swiftly after receiving the alert. Apart from overseeing the entrances, security worked to monitor every hallway and every classroom.
“When we go into a secure campus, every security guard knows they have a job to do, and they quickly execute it based on our training,” Ramos said.
While Ramos is grateful that this incident turned out to be a hoax, he reiterates the importance of constant alertness. For him, every one of these threats should be treated with the same importance, even if their credibility is not confirmed.
“Thankfully, every time the LPD has gotten a nondescript threat like this for Stevenson, it resulted in the threat being some sort of hoax,” Ramos said. “However, we can never assume that, so we always act as if it’s serious until we can identify and verify that it’s not.”