Philanthropy Today
Philanthropy Today
Prevent the Aftermath on the GMCF Community Hour Show Episode - 272
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We share a candid talk with RCPD Director Brian Peete on preventing targeted violence by training first responders to recognize behavioral indicators and respond with empathy. The conversation spans homelessness, social media, political rhetoric, and the mission of Prevent the Aftermath to build standardized, research-based training and tools.
• community empathy versus criminalization of crisis
• differences between East Coast and Manhattan KS approaches
• what behavioral indicators look like in real cases
• why many incidents have domestic roots
• limits of facility hardening without proactive prevention
• active shooter trainings and current national gaps
• social media signals and triage
• depolarizing rhetoric to reduce risk
• building a standardized assessment tool and training plan
• how donations accelerate national rollout
“Preventtheaftermath.org is the website.” “Right now we need donations… we’re trying to raise $200,000 to $250,000… then we can begin training first responders.” “Be that light in the world that you want to see in the world.”
Welcome And Guest Introduction
SPEAKER_01Philanthropy today is brought to you by the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation. In this episode, we feature a recently broadcast segment of the GMCF Community Hour, as heard on News Radio KMAN. We are back with the GMCF Community Hour here on News Radio KMAN. I'm Dave Lewis, and we have uh joining us here in the show today, Rodney County Police Department Director Brian Pete. Why do I always want to keep saying Rodney Pete whenever I see you?
SPEAKER_00I wish you could, I wish it was Rodney P. You wish you had his money.
SPEAKER_01That's what it is. That's what Yeah. There is no relation in it. There is.
Community, Homelessness, And Empathy
SPEAKER_00Well, from my understanding, it's like a fourth or fifth closet, but you know, that's from that's double hearsay. You've been here for what, three years? Uh yeah. This is the start of year four. Is it really? Yeah. You digging it? Love it. Would not want to be another uh be in another community. I mean, it this is a place that you can honestly say community. Other places, you know, it's it's the right thing word to use, I guess. This really is a community. Like you were just talking to Jeremy, he's just extraordinarily humble. Um, his his center uh does a lot of work and and uh and and I think it's something that that uh our community really needs to look at because um you can close your eyes. And I'm not saying that's what our community does, because our community is by far doesn't do that, but you can close your eyes and say we don't need a shelter, that doesn't mean there aren't people on the streets who need it. And uh and I think that the the way he and his team works, it's just a very good face in approach with other resources throughout the community that makes it work.
SPEAKER_01Now, if I remember right, you came here from the East Coast. Yes, from Vermont. The homeless situation along the East Coast is highly documented, maybe not so much in Vermont as it is elsewhere. But what is it, comparatively speaking, attack, you know, dealing with homeless issues here in Manhattan, Kansas, as opposed to somewhere in the East Coast where you may be a little bit more familiar with?
Comparing East Coast And Manhattan KS
SPEAKER_00It's uh so the East Coast has been a pass-through, folks going to and from, believe it or not, as far as uh uh from Vermont to California and and traveling back and forth. Um, but yeah, it's like like everything else, the the resources are limited. Um, a lot of folks um it it's become have become accustomed and hardened to it. Uh, but I think that's what makes the difference here. Uh are people actually, they see something, they say that's unfortunate, and they want to figure out a way to help people, but to do it in a responsible way that's accountable, that works towards getting people the help they need so they can move forward with their lives.
SPEAKER_01Well, I know we we've got something here we want to talk about. That one, you know, it's a continuation, but it is something that that I know that you're involved in. In fact, uh just in passing, you and Jeremy are talking about getting together uh here in a couple of weeks for a um a meeting to talk about homeless issues here in town. And and we certainly know that RCPD is um, you know, in a first responder perspective, that's um that is a challenge for you in a lot of respects.
First Responders And Noncriminal Approaches
SPEAKER_00It it is a challenge. And often the the the fe the people that we that we see and that we deal with are in a crisis, whether it's a financial crisis or mental health crisis or a health crisis or all the above. Um so it it's not uh criminalizing homelessness, criminalizing mental health. That's not something that we do. Uh, but we work in tandem with our with our partners like uh like Jeremy, like B Abel, uh like Mesai, and we work to get people the resources because I think at the at the end of the day, nobody wants to be in that type of a situation. And and and empathy is is king of public service, so it should be no different for force.
SPEAKER_01It goes back to that protect and serve. Exactly. Let's talk a bit about prevent the aftermath. That's why you're here today. I mean, I mean, there's all we you and I could probably have our own little radio show every week and do all kinds of fun things to talk about within the community and our past experiences and such. But but tell us what prevent the aftermath is all about.
Introducing Prevent The Aftermath
Behavioral Indicators And Targeted Violence
SPEAKER_00Uh Prevent the Aftermath is a uh, it's it's an organization that's grassroots that's started by myself, several other colleagues that I've had the honor to serve with, whether law enforcement, mental health, um, uh, prosecutorial offices. And uh, we came out of existence through a friend of mine, someone I had served with, Tony Ferguson in Alamogordo, New Mexico. He Tony lost his life uh in the line of duty with someone that if law enforcement looks at the proactive work in trying to determine a person's critical uh their mental stage, um if uh if if they're gonna be a danger to themselves or to the public, especially when it comes to the public, how can you be preventative with things like that? And and it also trickles over. It's the same. That same pathology, that same uh potential propensity is the same that you see in active shooter or targeted violence. And so in Tony's name, several of us stood up this grassroots organization. And our goal and our hope is to train law enforcement, prosecutors, and mental health professionals on recognizing the behavioral indicators that are often preludes to targeted or active shooter violence. And that's what we're hoping to do. How do you apply all this? Uh, it's the research is out there, the training isn't. So one of the things that we talk about with stopping active shooter or targeted violence is uh knowing what the behavior indicators are. And and you can think of the common when someone posts something on Facebook or sends a letter saying that they're going to shoot uh or or to uh to target a person or an or an entity. But by the way, 64% of active shooter violence, it's often domestic related. Uh so when we think of active shooter violence, we often think of schools. But in these cases, if law enforcement's not trained, uh, and and say if it's a house of worship that's gonna be targeted, and law enforcement doesn't understand the behavioral indicators or the behavioral cues to look for, but this house of worship is hardened. They've gone through facility assessments and looked at security assessments. It's not gonna do a bit of good if law enforcement's not working to proactively or preventatively stop the threat, the threat.
Beyond Hardening: Proactive Threat Prevention
SPEAKER_01You know, you talk about um these scenarios that that we've witnessed, and how do you prevent these things? And you may or may not know this. I was a county commissioner and I was on the on the law board for a while, and we went through an active shooter training uh that RCPD provided. And that's something that I think a lot of people, if they're not doing that, something they ought to take into consideration is to have somebody from the police department. And and you you still do that, I take it.
Active Shooter Trainings And Gaps
SPEAKER_00Oh yes. We uh we'll we'll rotate from different schools or different other organizations. We have a lot of critical infrastructures in our community. And um uh so we want to make sure that we're trained to respond if the if if the worst should ever happen. But the focus should always be never to have to respond because you we have the tools, we have the understanding, we have the insight. But currently in the United States, there is no recognized, thorough, standardized training for first responders to understand, to assess, and to mitigate potential threats.
SPEAKER_01It also surprises me how many churches have bodyguards.
SPEAKER_00You know, I mean, that's one thing that you think about that for a church or for a school to have to have bodyguards for there to be conversations about should you arm uh your security detailed a church? This this is where we're at. Um, and uh, but uh we have to work we're better than this. We can come back through it. And I think unfortunately, these types of things um reduce the trust that we have in each other. We have to work to get that trust back.
SPEAKER_01Is there a certain luck factor involved in trying to prevent uh some of these uh target violence episodes?
Politics, Rhetoric, And Reducing Harm
SPEAKER_00Well potentially, maybe a small percentage, what I truly believe in based on what the research says. Um if you're thinking about the one-off person who is just uh the traditional lone wolf who is not letting anyone know what they're doing and uh they're just moving to target someone, but more times than not, there is no luck requirement. Somebody somewhere, whether it's an employer, a neighbor, a family member, a spouse, a significant other, someone sees something that they can report to mitigate a potential attack. And so there's a uh, but so there's a there's two parts to this. There's educating the community on what those potential likelihood are those signs are, but it's also educating law enforcement, prosecutors, and mental health what those signs are, because currently in a lot of communities across this country, they don't know those signs. And that's that's sad.
Social Media Monitoring And Triage
SPEAKER_01You know, we uh seem to have a little bit of a I don't want to use the word volatile, but hostile political environment in a lot of respects. How does that or you know connect with you know the the information that you get from people and and different things? You know, what are some of your fears? How do you alleviate some of these concerns with people that feel that they may be subject to, you know, some political violence or you know, it kind of goes back to that that lone wolf type scenario. But I know that there are people that that do feel threatened. We've had elected officials. I was threatened with uh, you know, someone that wanted to take me out when I was on the commission, and you know, and we know that this continues to happen. How do you deal with that?
The Nonprofit’s Mission And Board
Funding The Assessment Tool And CTA
SPEAKER_00I I think the rhetoric, the national rhetoric and and the I think a lot of it is projection that some folks are going to look at local politics and say, whatever's going on in the national stage, somehow, somehow, someone local is the embodiment of that, and which is furthest from the truth. Um, I think a lot of people get into public service because they have a desired uh wish to help and to give back and to make the community better. But um it's law enforcement, um, volunteer organizations can only do so much. It's up to, I think, our elected officials. And I don't see it locally um to tamper down that rhetoric on both sides rather than pointing the fingers back and forth at each other. We have to all work in tandem to tamper uh to tamper that down. And and with that being said, uh, our organization is uh uh nonpartisan, but um I I don't think it it it takes a nonpartisan organization to see that we've got to stop the hyperbole and we have to start getting back to a sense of mutual trust and and as corny as it sounds, love of each other. Uh, because I think uh at the end of the day, it is. If you can let go of anger, if you can let go of blame, if you can let go of any of the rest of these things. And I think the problem is we become so comfortable with those feelings that that we look for ways to rationalize them. It's okay to be angry at something for happening, but it's not okay to demonize any of the people who are saying it because uh because again, at the end of the day, um I think everybody wants what's best. And in some cases, unfortunately, it's easier to demonize an idea or a person because uh to help people to justify your cause as at whether it's a targeted violent situation or whether it's a political one.
SPEAKER_01Do you pay much attention to some of the rhetoric that's on social media? Uh, you know, with I mean, talk about all kinds of different things that are political. And I don't know if you guys monitor that or things that get brought to your attention. Uh especially if that's brought to your attention. What's the process in dealing with that?
Closing Thoughts On Hope And Care
SPEAKER_00Um so from the law enforcement aspect, it's it's again, it's a it's a matter of understanding what um what the the threat is and and there's a criminal uh aspect to it. Uh, and even if it's not, law enforcement plays a huge part in working towards a case management, if you will, or a threat mitigation plan and getting the person the resources they need to come out of the crisis that they're in. Um or if if it's uh if it is a criminal related, then then arrests might be appropriate. Uh, but from the from the nonprofit point of, yes, we do watch a lot of the vitriol that goes on online. Um there's a lot of it. Uh, but the positive part of it is is people are very people most people tend to be vocal. And when those feelings and emotions come out, it's easier to sense what those behavioral indicators can be.
SPEAKER_01It's easy to to let it out and verbalize it as opposed to going that next step.
SPEAKER_00Uh yes. And it's also easy, I think, for people to understand whether this person may be a significant, maybe a uh a level of concern, maybe a higher, uh, maybe warrant to be higher. Um, that sometimes you can help you ascertain if it's just talk or if they're running in circles that that cause alarm.
SPEAKER_01Prevent theaftermath.org is the website. What will we find there?
SPEAKER_00Uh, you'll find a background on what prevent the aftermath is. You'll also see the individuals who are involved uh in what we're doing, some of the businesses and companies that we're trying to work with, Roblox, Keel Sarah, Verizon, uh, part of our one of the individuals who's on our board. We have several people who are more grassroots, but we've even uh we have Brian Cuban, who is on our uh board, uh the brother of Mark Cuban. And uh so I think that uh it's just a reflection and in looking at that website, it can help summarize why our organization is important and that it fills a gap that currently does not exist anywhere in the world.
SPEAKER_01What can we do to help?
SPEAKER_00Uh right now we need donations. Uh, our biggest thing is we have our training, everything set. But on top of the training that we have, that is again first uh and most thorough, that's out there, we've created an assessment tool, a behavioral assessment tool that we can move to an online platform. And to move that tool to an online platform, we're trying to raise$200,000 to$250,000. And then once that's done, we can begin training first responders.
SPEAKER_01That website again is preventheaftermath.org. Anything else you want to sneak in here before we uh give you the the boot?
SPEAKER_00No, that just uh, you know, um uh be be that light in the world that you want to see in the world. And I think if if if if all of us lived our lives that way with that same sense of hope, love, uh, and care and empathy, uh, that we truly can uh make the difference.
SPEAKER_01You better write all that down. You can you can post that. Those are words to live by.
SPEAKER_00I appreciate that.
SPEAKER_01Brian Pete is the uh right uh Riley County Police Department director, but he's here speaking today on Prevented the Aftermath, preventheaftermath.org. When we come back, Jane is going to be joining us. She's uh fired up, she's giving us the hand signs like all is well in Manhattan. We'll be back uh with our final segment here on the GMCF Community Hour on News Radio KMAN.