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Anonymous call can save lives

Program encourages teenagers to break silence about crime
Susan Payne, director of Safe to Tell with the Colorado Attorney General’s Office, views a show of hands Wednesday at Miller Middle School as she asks students to help others in need.

Students, who know better than adults what’s happening among their peers, can save suffering and even lives if they tell someone responsible about an anomalous action or overheard comment, a veteran law-enforcement officer told students today at Escalante and Miller middle schools.

Safe2Tell, which she founded in 2004, guarantees anonymity to callers who report planned crimes or unethical or dangerous conduct, Susan Payne said. She’s been a sworn law officer for 25 years with a police department, the Department of Homeland Security and currently the Colorado Attorney General’s Office.

A troubled youngster in the Colorado Springs area was held for three days of observation, Payne said, as the result of an online post that said: “Just because I’m quiet doesn’t mean that I’m not planning your deaths.”

The lad was tracked down within three hours of the posting being reported anonymously to Safe2Tell, Payne said. The incident occurred since classes resumed this fall, she said.

The highest number of reports to Safe2Tell involve suicide, bullying and substance abuse, Payne said.

Enlisting students in the reporting of such activities is key to making schools safe, she said.

“Research shows that the riskiest time for students is from sixth- through eighth-grade,” Payne said. “A lot of safety is our own responsibility.”

In four of five school shootings, at least one person other than the perpetrators knew what was going to go down, Payne said.

Fifteen percent of high school students nationally have thought of suicide, Payne said.

Don’t let adherence to a code of silence or fear of retaliation or social isolation stop reporting of telltale signs, Payne said.

Safe2Tell was created in response to the Columbine High School shooting by two students in April 1999 that left 12 students and one teacher dead and 21 other people injured. The perpetrators committed suicide.

Safe2Tell is an anonymous tip line to report threats to oneself or others, Payne said. It isn’t for reporting emergencies. Dial 911 for immediate help.

“If you care about people, minding your own business is not a good idea,” Payne said.

Payne met separately with sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade classes at Escalante on Wednesday and at a general assembly at Miller. She will visit middle-schoolers in Cortez and Bayfield today.

daler@durangoherald.com

For more information

Safe2Tell is reached at (877) 542-7233 or www.safe2tell.org. Calls are not traced.

Parents who want to learn about Safe2Tell may contact Kathy Morris, the safe schools coordinator at San Juan Board of Cooperative Educational Services at 759-0681.



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