The Knox County Sheriff’s Office responding to a threat at South-Doyle High School today (Tuesday).
Kimberly Glenn with KCSO says the Major Crimes Unit and Juvenile Detectives were on the scene and later said the building had been cleared.
Knox County Schools did confirm that the school was on lockdown today (Tuesday).
This comes after Sheriff Tom Spangler’s announcement a few weeks ago that school violence would NOT be tolerated.
(Story courtesy of WVLT) One week into Knox County’s 2024-2025 school year, Sheriff Tom Spangler is reinforcing just how seriously his office is taking school security.
False calls are among Spangler’s top concerns. The Knox County sheriff said his agency responded to 117 threats last year, making 41 arrests. The Knoxville Police Department’s story is similar; officers responded to 63 threats last year at 30 schools across the district.
The sheriff wants parents and students to know he’s taking false calls seriously for the new school year.
“Unfortunately we know something’s going to come about, we know someone is going to make a false call,” Spangler said. ”If it happens and if you’re caught, we’ve made it very clear. I’m going to sound redundant, but it’s that important to me that we hold these individuals accountable.”
A false call is a severe thing to Spangler, who said using resources to respond to bogus threats puts the rest of the public at risk. Officers rushing to a school can be a danger to people on the road and cannot respond to real emergencies.
It’s become such a problem that the state has stepped in, upping false call charges from misdemeanors to felonies. Getting caught would mean a student goes a year without their license (or has to wait a year before getting it if they don’t already have it).
It’s something Spangler is grateful for.
”It’s very much a start, and I’m thankful they added some accountability,” he said.
Locally, students are facing higher repercussions as well. A source familiar with the Knox County juvenile court system, who chose to go unidentified, told WVLT News that kids accused of making threats will face the “highest extent of the law.”
Spangler’s message to parents: Make sure your students know what making a fake threat could mean for them and their futures.
