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SALEM -- Salem police and school officials don't believe a threat spread all over social media Wednesday night about an unknown source bringing a gun to school and referring to SHS is credible, but they're taking it seriously.
"We will have officers in all Salem city schools today," Salem Police Chief J.T. Panezott said.
All doors will be covered with officers as students and staff arrive and there will be roaming patrols in the hallways. Panezott said he and the juvenile officer will be there for the high school students and staff when they gather in the morning.
"We'll be hanging out with them, reassuring them," he said.
Superintendent Dr. Joe Shivers sent a message to all parents through an all-call Wednesday about the plans for police officers to be present for the school day today. Shivers, Assistant Superintendent and High School Principal Sean Kirkland, Assistant Junior High Principal Todd McLaughlin, Panezott and Salem Police Detective Brad Davis spent late Wednesday at the school, working together on the response and making plans for today.
"The goal of the Salem schools and the Salem Police Department is to reassure everyone that we're doing everything we can to ensure the safety of all the students and staff," Shivers said.
Police will also keep an eye on St. Paul School, too. Principal Dave Pancurak posted a message to St. Paul School families late Wednesday to notify them about the precautions being taken and the fact that police officers will be at the school.
Panezott said the department first learned about the alleged threat around 7:30 p.m. when dispatchers started getting calls and the department's Facebook page started blowing up with messages. Parents were sending messages to officers and officers sent information to the department and citizens followed the "see something, say something" credo that the police department stresses.
Panezott offered his thanks to all the parents and everyone who reported what they saw or heard to the police department.
About the same time the police department was learning about the situation, Shivers said Kirkland's cell phone starting blowing up with texts and phone calls from concerned students and staff who saw the posting.
Shivers sent the following message through the all call system at 9:40 p.m. Wednesday: Good Evening this is Joe Shivers, Superintendent of Salem City Schools. The Salem City School District and the Salem Police Department are responding to a threat made earlier today on social media. The police and the school district's technology teams are working with Facebook directly to trace the source of the threat. To the best of our knowledge this is not a credible threat to the students and staff of Salem High School. Nevertheless, the Salem Police Department will have officers at the high school throughout the day tomorrow. Rest assured that the safety of our students and staff is of paramount importance in all we do."
Panezott confirmed that police officers will be present at all the schools, not just the high school.
The message that was posted on social media said "I will not being telling people what my name is, but I will bring a gun to school Tomorrow, so be prepared to hear shoots." A followup message said "Yes SHS is the school I want."
"We've been in contact with Facebook security and we've learned that it's a closed account, been closed for several hours, and we are working to further identify the account," Panezott said. "We also have additional information that this post is traveling around the Internet to several states to schools with the initials SHS."
According to Panezott, Kentucky State Police are investigating the same threat. He said through the Salem Police Department's investigation so far, "we don't believe this is a credible threat or anybody from this area."
When asked why not close the schools for the day, Shivers responded "If we close any time we get a vague threat from some kook anywhere in the country, we'd never be open. We just don't think this is a credible threat."
Ironically, the Salem school officials and Salem police and fire departments completed a tabletop exercise on Wednesday and discussed the possibility of a social media threat. The training had been planned for three weeks, prior to the recent school shooting in Florida and other incidents in the more immediate area.
"You tend to see these types of threats after an incident like Florida, but you take them seriously," Davis said.
Davis is a certified trainer in the ALICE program for active shooter response drills and has done the training with school personnel previously. Both Salem city schools and St. Paul School have locked doors, forcing visitors to hit a buzzer and identify themselves before someone inside who can seen them on camera lets them in.
Davis noted that the officers in the department have a vested interest in protecting Salem students -- their kids go to Salem schools, too. All the agencies take threats to students very seriously.
Panezott said they'll continue to investigate the posting and consult with other investigative officials for assistance. He said he's pretty sure other agencies are already investigating this same threat.
mgreier@salemnews.net