School Committee Member Discusses Bomb Threats

A series of phoned in bomb threats were received by schools across the state and across the country on Tuesday.

New Bedford School Committee Member and Police Officer Chris Cotter spoke with WBSM's Brian Thomas on Wednesday and said that most of the schools targeted shared a similar characteristic.

"I know that most of these threats are targeted toward the larger schools," said Cotter "because those who are making these threats are trying to get as much disruption as possible from the mass student body."

Cotter says smaller schools are usually able to respond more quickly and with less disruption.

"The smaller schools can evacuate, go through the school quicker, whereas the larger schools need to set up their plan see how viable the threat is and work with that threat," said Cotter.

In response to the threats some schools chose to evacuate and cancel classes for the day while otherss chose to remain open.

Cotter says the way schools choose to respond depends on the specific threat they receive.

"Alot of these calls are generic 'hey there's a bomb in the school and it's going to go off at such and such a time,'" said Cotter "where if a threat is coming in that's directed at 'hey there's a bomb in the gym' as an example, then at that point it's more viable and more of a directed threat, so then you would absolutely evacuate," said Cotter.

Cotter also said he would like to review the response plan for all New Bedford schools in regards to threats.