IFSEC Global Podcast: Episode 7 – Analysing school shootings, violence & threat prevention through behavioural psychology

In episode 7 of the IFSEC Global Security in Focus podcast, listen to insight from Dr Marisa Randazzo, as we discuss her experiences in the US Secret Service and how it led to a focus on behavioural psychology and violence prevention, specifically related to educational institutions. We explore the research Marisa has carried out on the threat of school shootings in particular, and try to understand whether such incidents can be predicted – and therefore prevented.

What Marisa and her team’s research has found, through a mixture of investigate evidence and direct interviews with 10 offenders, makes for fascinating listening. She notes how the patterns are actually similar to those the Secret Service had already uncovered about assassination attempts – now known in the field as a ‘pathway to violence’.

As always, we ask Marisa to comment on some of the key trends she’s witnessing in the wider security industry in her role as Executive Director of Threat Management for Ontic, too.

About the guest…

Dr. Marisa Randazzo is the Executive Director for Threat Management at Ontic. She was Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of SIGMA Threat Management Associates LLC, which was acquired by Ontic in September 2021. She is recognized internationally as an expert on threat assessment & threat management, school shootings and other types of targeted violence, and protective intelligence investigations. She also serves as Director of Threat Assessment for Georgetown University.

Dr. Marisa Randazzo

Previously, Dr. Randazzo served for ten years with the U.S. Secret Service, most recently as the agency’s Chief Research Psychologist. Among her various responsibilities, she co-directed the Safe School Initiative, the landmark federal study of school shootings that was conducted jointly by the U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Department of Education.

Dr. Randazzo is an accomplished presenter and instructor on threat assessment investigations, while her research is used in the federal, state, and local law enforcement communities and has been credited in the media with preventing planned attacks. She is co-author of two leading books on threat assessment: The Handbook for Campus Threat Assessment and Management Teams (2008) and Implementing Behavioral Threat Assessment on Campus: A Virginia Tech Demonstration Project (2009).

Links to talking points:

• Why the insider threat will motivate cyber and physical teams to collaborate more than ever in 2022, article for IFSEC Global by Dr Marissa Randazzo
• Dr. Marisa Randazzo, Ontic biography
• US Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC)
• Trigger Points: Inside the Mission to Stop Mass Shootings in America, by Mark Follman
• The Ontic Protective Intelligence Podcast

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