In the wake of the school shooting that occurred in Parkland, Fla. last week, several “copy cat” threat incidents have begun popping up, and Butler County was not immune.

Threats against districts included Butler School District, South Butler County School District, Karns City School District and surrounding school districts of New Castle in Lawrence County and Connellsville in Fayette County, to name a few.

Universities and colleges in Butler County are using the incidents as teaching tools, discussing with college students ways to prevent school violence threats and how to better understand the underlying nature of those threats.

Steven Shaffer, program coordinator for the criminology department at Butler County Community College and a former police officer in Connellsville for 18 years, said he dedicated his class time last week to discussing school shooting and threat incidents.

“The students voiced some concerns, but were very respectful to argument and did not let passion come into play,” he said. “I wish more people would be like my students.”

Shaffer said the way the students handled the discussion with “grace and dignity” was amazing to him, since many politicians are unable to discuss the issue without the argument falling into chaos.

“We need to take the passion out of the argument and come up with common sense and real world arguments to protect our kids,” he said.

Threat incidents began popping up locally following the Feb. 14 Florida shooting, where a 19-year-old gunman killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

In one of those incidents, police began investigating a 28-year-old Bridgeville man the following day, which led to a misdemeanor terroristic threats charge after South Fayette Township police say a former Butler student, Bryan P. Flecken, allegedly made a threat to “shoot up” a Butler County school.

Flecken continues to be held in Allegheny County Jail on $250,000 bail, pending his preliminary hearing on Monday.

Susan Lubinski, associate professor in the Criminology & Security Studies department at Slippery Rock University, said copy cat events such as this tend to occur after a tragic incident, where people see an opportunity to take advantage. She said copy cat incidents are cyclical and are a “common phenomena” after a tragedy.

“I think there is a lot of people who are doing this, a lot of students who are doing it, that are merely attention-seeking and think they are not going to be caught or there isn't a serious issues there,” she said.

Lubinski said students who make these threats often aren't mature enough to understand the consequences of their actions. Many think that making threats via the Internet gives them anonymity, which isn't the case.

Shaffer said many times the incidents occur when “irresponsible students take advantage of the situation” and make a threat in the hopes that they will get out of classes. He said many children in our society are desensitized to violence, which could lead to trying to take advantage of the situations.

“Some of these kids actually think this is a funny thing, but this is no laughing matter,” Shaffer said. “Something needs to be done and those students who are caught making these threats need to be prosecuted to the highest measure of the law.”

Lubinski said Flecken's alleged actions in particular are concerning because of his age. Flecken graduated from the school in 2008.

“What I find interesting is how old he is,” she said. “There is obviously still an issue he associates with the school or school district, and it is concerning the length or period of contact and his involvement with the district.”

Flecken's attorney, Giuseppe Rosselli says he intends to argue that Flecken's comments, made in a Facebook chat, are merely a distasteful joke.

Despite that, Lubinski said it is easy to see why police and the district reacted the way that did, which included the filing of criminal charges, increased security at the schools and Butler School District requesting an injunction prohibiting Flecken from being within a mile of any Butler School District property or from attending any school-related activity, whether held on district property or at another location.

“You never know when this is going to occur,” she said. “And you never know when that person is going to engage in a terroristic act.”

Shaffer said he also understands law enforcement's reaction to threats.

“Because of the climate we have they are definitely going to catch the eye of law enforcement more,” he said. “Law enforcement is going to take every single threat seriously.”

Shaffer said he was also shocked regarding the Flecken case, because the suspect “has been almost a decade removed from the school.”

“I think we need to look at his background and see what he's about,” he said. “It is very disconcerting that after this length of time that he would come out and say anything. It is very odd.”

Shaffer said much of the discussion in his classes was how to prevent school violence in the first place. Among those suggestions was examining the Second Amendment issue inherent in these situations, as well as mental health and school security.

“This isn't one singular issue,” he said. “It is a Second Amendment issue, and there are aspects of gun control that should be discussed, but we also have to examine the multiple reasons behind it. Guns need to be examined but so does mental health and school security, as well as the home lives of these kids.”

Lubinski said the incident in Florida was a result of “a system failure.”

She said the important thing is to recognize behaviors which might lead to someone committing a threat or actual violence.

“We need to train our professionals to look for those behavioral indicators,” she said. “We need psychologists in our schools to engage students and to teach them about anger management, anxiety and other behavioral issues. We need to pinpoint situations which might lead to an incident such as this, and deal with bullying and start strengthening social relationships in our schools.”