Another Bomb Threat Reported at Concord High School

CONCORD, NH - For the second time in about three months, police are investigating a bomb threat at Concord High School.

Officers were sent to the high school around 10 a.m. on March 29, 2016, for a report of a bomb threat written inside a men’s bathroom that was reported to administrators, according to scanner chatter.

Lt. Timothy O’Malley, the commander of the criminal investigations unit of the Concord Police Department, confirmed this morning the presence of a threat at the school in a first floor bathroom that appears to have been written that morning and referenced some type of bomb going off “today,” meaning yesterday morning.

“The PD is investigating the matter,” he noted. “The school did not feel the threat to be credible and the PD did concur with that. That being said, we do take this very seriously, and would strongly encourage anyone with information about it to call us or the CRC (Concord Regional Crimeline) at 603-226-3100.”

Concord School District Superintendent Terri Forsten responded last night with an email that the department was following guidance developed by Homeland Security to review issues and inform appropriate law enforcement agencies about potential issues at schools.

“In this process, if the issue is found not to be credible we generally do not announce the issue as that seems to inspire a host of copycat behaviors,” she noted. “Thankfully, these issues are fairly infrequent.”

The threat appears to be similar to one reported in December 2015, where writing was found on a bathroom wall offering what outgoing school Principal Gene Connolly offered as a “vague” threat. Officials deemed the threat not to be credible at that time, too, but informed parents about it, something officials didn’t do yesterday, according to numerous parents.

Bomb threats and threats of violence against schools are becoming more and more prevalent not only in New Hampshire but around the country.

Pembroke Academy has reported numerous threats in the school, including bomb threats that have led to lockdowns. There have been so many that students have taken to social media networks and used hashtags to joke about the incidents and communicate with each other at evacuation locations.

Nearly all threats have been deemed hoaxes but officials still take them seriously, to ensure the safety of children attending schools.