Senate Panel Agrees To Create A Hotline So Students Can Report Dangerous Activities

Published: Wednesday, March 14, 2018 - 12:40pm
Updated: Wednesday, March 14, 2018 - 12:45pm

Hoping to prevent a future school shooting in Arizona, a Senate panel agreed yesterday to set up a statewide hotline where students can anonymously report dangerous activities and threats. 

The idea of the “Safe to Tell” program is to gather intelligence on what is happening in schools. 14-year-old Ridley Wilson is a student in Phoenix. She told members of the Senate Appropriations Committee that the advantage of the program is that tips can be gathered under a single umbrella, giving the agency collecting the data the chance to see patterns before they explode into something else.

"On February 14th Nikolas Cruz came into his former school and shot 34 people, killing 17," she said. "His classmates had reported him to authorities. But reports weren't pulled together for a full picture of the danger."

Attorney General Mark Brnovich has offered to house the program, according to one lawmaker. But lawmakers still need to work out how the program will be paid for. The measure now goes to the Senate Education Committee. 

Education