AG orders local police to report school threats immediately to state

TRENTON — A new order from New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal requires all school threats to be reported to the state immediately.

"When local law enforcement agencies receive tips about suspicious activity related to terrorism or threatened acts of violence, including violence directed at schools, they must immediately notify both their County Terrorism Coordinators and the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness (NJOHSP), which, in turn, shall immediately share such reports with the FBI," reads the order issued on Monday.

The order comes as the number of threats made toward New Jersey schools spiked following the shooting inside Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Feb. 14 that left 17 people dead.

"When there is a potential threat to our school students or people anywhere in New Jersey, law enforcement alerts, information-sharing, and action must happen immediately, not within 24 hours," Grewal said.

The order replaces a 2016 directive that focused on "suspicious activity with a possible nexus to terrorism" that allowed local law enforcement 24 hours to report such threats to NJOHSP.

Gov. Phil Murphy said he supported the order.

"It is through common-sense changes like these that we can make our public institutions, houses of worship, and state safer for all residents," Murphy said in the statement announcing the order.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ.

More from New Jersey 101.5: