Training College Police Officers on PTSD using the DSM-5 as part of an Antiterrorism and Threat Assessment Strategy

Abstract

The Virginia Tech Shootings and other acts of gun violence on campuses across the country are painful psychological reminders of the perils for campus police connected with college life in the 21st Century. The clinical forensic problems stemming from these human actions can result in the same character of psychological sequelae (e.g., fears) observed in the wake of a terrorist act. Fear is often a symptom of Post--traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which is diagnosed by using a mental disorder assessment and treatment tool known as the Diagnostic Statistical Manual--5 (DSM--5). Threat assessment strategies for college police officers take into consideration the public safety point of view and must be expanded to intervene at multiple points as a violent event unfolds on campus. The DSM--5 provides mental health professionals with a psychologically--relevant, focused threat assessment framework required for collaborative work with college police officers. This paper explores the nexus between threat assessment, antiterrorism, PTSD, and college police officers. The paper reviews ways in which factors that reduce the risk for PTSD can be consistently incorporated into campus police policies (i.e., policy including elements that reduce the risk of PTSD for officers) and into the decisions affecting risk and threat assessment operations related to public safety. As the primary threat assessment and interventionist unit on campus, college police must be sensitized to the need for working collaboratively with other mental health disciplines in assessing for PTSD with a culturally responsive review of PTSD. Implications for crafting an expanded campus terrorism response with a focus on reducing post--traumatic stress reactions in responders, through the preparation of college police officers, are highlighted.