Tipline Allows Oklahoma Students To Report Suspicious Behavior

Oklahoma now has a way for students to report something they see or hear that they think could lead to violence, like a school shooting.

The Oklahoma School Security Institute now has a tipline that's open 24 hours a day and completely anonymous.

In last week's school shooting in Washington, the shooter had been tweeting some things that might've indicated he was a ticking time bomb.

The new tipline in Oklahoma gives students a way to tell someone if they think a kid is on the edge.

Jaylen Fryberg wasn't your typical school shooter, but, his posts on social media went from a teenager in love, to someone sad about a breakup, then, to angry starting with, "I hate that I can't live without you," to, "you're not going to like what happens next," and then, "it won't last, it'll never last."

Fryberg texted some of his friends to have lunch with him, then, shot five of them - two died – then, he killed himself.

Seniors at Tulsa's Edison Preparatory school, like Shelby Strickland, can't make sense of the shooting.

"You'd think almost, he would want to go and hurt the girl who made him upset and not the friends who have been there for him," she said.

When asked, the students at Edison said they didn't know about the Oklahoma School Security Institute or its tipline.

They like the idea of a tipline, but said if they would've seen tweets like Fryberg's, they probably would not have reported him, just figuring it was usual teenage drama.

But, if someone was tweeting stuff like that continuously for days, or if they made actual threats, that's different.

"I think it would have to be more obvious, like, they would have to say I want to do something or I seriously want to hurt myself," said Edison senior, Elizabeth Charles.

Edison senior, Michael Lehmon said, "When you think something bad is going to happen to a lot of people, why would you keep that under ropes?"

They like that Oklahoma's tipline is anonymous.

"You don't want to be the snitch because, depending on the situation, if they find out it was you, it could come back on you. That's what's nice about a tipline, no one knows it's you, no one can come after you," the students said.

Students can report problems two ways - through the 24 hour tipline, 855-337-8300, or go to the Oklahoma School Security Institute's website.

They kids said they think every student needs to be told about the tipline and they'd be more likely to use it if they heard later, that threats were actually stopped because people called in.