Schools to add police presence Friday ahead of TikTok threat trend

They say the posts and rumored threats appear to have started from a nationwide TikTok challenge.

News 12 Staff

Dec 16, 2021, 10:26 PM

Updated 1,087 days ago

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School districts throughout the state are beefing up security and keeping a close eye on social media after apparent threats were made on TikTok nationwide.
Connecticut State Police and other state agencies are investigating and monitoring the situation. They say there are no credible threats on schools in Connecticut at this time.
They say the posts and rumored threats appear to have started from a nationwide TikTok challenge.
Police say the posts have circulated for several days across the country, but say it is possible the threats originated from a TikTok challenge to skip school.
Although many districts and police departments are already on high alert, some students at Norwalk High School say they're still on edge from the series of hoax threats their school received a few weeks ago.
"You never know, it kind of all goes to everyone's head that, yeah, it's a hoax, but you always have that gut feeling like, what if it's real?" said 11th grader Casey Donnelley.
Below are a list of statements from local schools.
Weston Schools put out a statement that said, "There are no actionable or credible threats to the Weston Public Schools at this time, however out of an abundance of caution, there will be an increased police presence in and around our schools."
Orange Schools said, "Out of an abundance of caution, the Orange Police Department will have extra patrols at all Orange schools tomorrow."
Norwalk Public Schools said in a statement, "Out of an abundance of caution and to make sure that students and staff feel safe, we will have an increased security and NPD presence visible throughout the city tomorrow."
Darien Schools said, "At this time, there are no credible threats to any school in the Connecticut school system including Darien. As always, we will have police personal around our schools in town as a precautionary measure."
"A security guard is assigned to each school, there is a School Resource Officer at our high school, and the WPD has assigned an additional police officer dedicated exclusively to our school campuses," Westport Public Schools said in a statement.
Greenwich Public Schools said, "It is also important for you to remember, and to relay to your children, that we will continue to see a larger GPD presence around our school buildings on a regular basis out of an abundance of caution given the amount of these types of situations taking place across the region."
Easton/Redding Public Schools said, "There will be additional police surveillance on school grounds tomorrow. We have also created an alert email address that you can use if you see or hear anything that concerns you re school safety. The email address is safetyalert@er9.org."
Stratford Schools said, "We will remain in close contact with our law-enforcement colleagues as we enter the school day tomorrow."
"We have a district-level safety team, school-level safety teams and School Resource Officers employed and trained through partnerships with Fairfield Police. They are also involved in the review of school safety plans and provide suggestions for improvement," the Fairfield School District superintendent said.
"I am working in concert with the New Milford Chief of Police and we will have, out of an abundance of caution, increased police presence at and around all of our schools up until winter break," said the superintendent of New Milford Schools.
Bridgeport Schools says while there is no credible threat, "We may have an increased police presence in our buildings on Friday as an added precaution."
"We are in contact with the Stamford Police Department and they have confirmed that the online posts are nonspecific and repeat broad rumors.  The police have no information that suggests any credible threats to any specific schools here in Stamford or elsewhere," said Stamford Schools in a statement.