Within the month of February, we have seen a disgruntled college professor open fire at her campus in Alabama; a disgruntled engineer crash his small plane into an IRS building in Austin, Texas; and a man shoot two students at a middle school near Columbine High School in Colorado. What is the common theme in each of these tragedies? That they were disgruntled is a given. (note to self: Why didn't I copyright the phrase "disgruntled ex-employee" back in 1994, when I wrote my Ticking Bombs workplace violence book in 1994? I could've retired on the royalties.)
No, the fact they were disgruntled was and is proven by the results of their actions: four dead, several wounded. The larger issue is that their irrational behavior was known to others prior to their actions. Amy Bishop had killed her brother with an "accidental shotgun blast" back in the 1980s. She (and her husband) were "persons of interest" in an attempted by bombing of a colleague she hated at Harvard. Several witnesses said she had brought a gun to her Alabama campus and threatened people with it.
The man who crashed his plane into the Austin IRS office had long-standing beefs with the government over his tax issues. On the evening before his crash, he had fought with his wife an apparently lit his own house on fire.
According to his father, the man who shot two kids at the middle school in Colorado "heard voices" and acted strangely long before the attack.
If one of the best predictors of future behavior is past behavior, then why do so many people rationalize the irrational behavior of others? Why do we (usually through the media reports) learn so many disturbing things in the aftermath? Why do we seemed so surprised when people who frighten their families, their co-workers, and others, go on to harm others and themselves?
We don't need to create a tattletale culture; we need to create a culture of honesty, where people close to those who are mentally ill, severely disturbed, and pose a danger to themselves and others, are not afraid to ask doctors, police, or others for help. We seem to want to wait for the "Big Event" in our world, and when it happens, we act surprised.
Dr. Steve Albrecht, PHR, CPP is a San Diego-based speaker and writer on high-risk HR and security issues. He can be reached at drsteve@drstevealbrecht.com.
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