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The Incident
The first incident report that came in to the agency's newly formed workplace violence team was from a field office. Two months after an employee retired on disability retirement, he began threatening his ex-supervisor. He knocked on his ex- supervisor 's apartment door late one evening. He left threatening statements on the supervisor's home answering machine, such as I just wanted to let you know I bought a gun. On one occasion, a psychiatrist called the supervisor and the agency's security office and told them that the ex-employee threatened to murder his ex-supervisor. The psychiatrist said the threat should be taken seriously especially because he was drinking heavily. A coworker received an anonymous letter stating, It is not over with [name of supervisor]. Each time a threat was reported, the agency's security office would take extra measures to protect the supervisor while at the workplace and the supervisor would report the incident to the local police. Each time, the supervisor was informed that the police were unable to take action on the threats because they did not rise to a criminal level. The supervisor spoke with the county magistrate about a restraining order, but again was told the threats did not rise to the level required to obtain a restraining order.
Response
The workplace violence team held a conference call with the threatened supervisor, the director of the office, and the security chief of the field office. They suggested the following actions.
Recommendations for the Security Officer:
Recommendations for the Director of the Field Office:
Recommendations for the threatened Supervisor:
Resolution
Contact with the local police confirmed that each report had been taken as a new case. When presented with the cumulative evidence, in fact, the ex-employee's behavior did rise to the level of stalking under state law. The police visited the ex-employee and warned him that further threats could result in an arrest. At the threatened supervisor's request, the county magistrate issued a restraining order prohibiting personal contact and any (continued) communication. Two months after the restraining order was issued, the ex-employee was arrested for breaking the restraining order. The agency security office and the supervisor kept in contact with the police about the case to reduce any further risk of violence.
Questions for the Agency Planning Group