From: "Tom Wheeler" <twbounds-AT-pop.mail.rcn.net>
Subject: Re: [i-news] School Shootings and White Denial
Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2001 23:13:44 -0500


From: danceswithcarp <dcombs-AT-bloomington.in.us>

>At 09:57 AM 3/7/2001 -0500, Chuck0 wrote:
>>And yet once again, we hear the FBI insist there is no "profile" of a
>>school
>>shooter. Come again? White boy after white boy after white boy, with
>>very
>>few exceptions to that rule (and none in the mass shooting category),
>>decides to use their classmates for target practice, and yet there is no
>>profile? Imagine if all these killers had been black: would we still
>>hesitate to put a racial face on the perpetrators? Doubtful.
>
>Chuck0?  I hate to chew on you but your normally impeccable sources stepped
>on their penii with this one and I don't know how to contact Mr. Wise who
>scribbled that pathetic rant.  The FBI/Police Apparatchiks have a "white
>boy" shooter profile and have had one since prior to Columbine.  Had this
>fellow you posted been watching the news he would hear all sorts of
>references to it.  Persoanlly, I don't think it's wirth a hoot as far as
>predictions are concerned, but it exists.


Actually, Tim is correct. The FBI actually does insist there is no "profile"
of a school shooter. That's the *official* line. Of course, they put out a
report on "risk factors" (referred to as a "geek" profile at slashdot).
Folks can reach Tim at tjwise-AT-mindspring.com

http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/09/06/fbi.school.violence.02/
FBI: School threat report not meant for student profiling

Mary Ellen O' Toole, an FBI agent specializing in behavior analysis, says
"There is no profile of a school shooter"

Findings seen as helping police, educators head off violence
September 6, 2000

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- After a two-year study of school shootings, an FBI
report released Wednesday said educators should be alert to students
exhibiting dozens of risk factors, such as obsession with violence. But it
cautioned that the findings cannot be used as a list of warning signs to
pinpoint teens likely to attack classmates or teachers.

"There is no profile of a school shooter. It simply doesn't exist," said
Mary Ellen O'Toole, a FBI agent specializing in behavior analysis. The
reason, she explained, is that many students who do not become violent may
still have the same suspicious traits as the violent ones.

"There are no warning signs. There are no predictive signs for a school
shooter," O'Toole said at a Washington news conference.

High-profile shootings like the 1999 killings at Columbine High School in
Littleton, Colorado, have heightened calls for specific action to prevent
school violence.

Nevertheless, the report prompted concerns that schools might use the FBI
recommendations to identify -- and punish -- students who behave
suspiciously. "The American public is not going to want the FBI profiling
their kids," said Vincent Schiraldi of the Justice Policy Institute, a youth
advocacy think tank.
[snip]

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