AAron Ontiveroz / The Denver Post
Tips to Colorado’s Safe2Tell hotline about potential threats to youth safety nearly doubled in June compared to the same period last year.
The Colorado Office of the Attorney General reported 674 tips in June, which was 83 percent more than in June 2018. The number of tips still was down substantially from the months when kids are in school.
Tips about students at risk for suicide were the most common type in June, as is typical. Other common reasons for reports were concerns about drug use; suggestions to check on a person’s well-being; requests for information; general threats; and cyberbullying. Typically, cyberbullying doesn’t make the top 10 reasons for reports, but it may be more of a problem in the summer because students are spending more time on social media, the attorney general’s office said.
Safe2Tell received 19,511 tips from August to June, not counting pranks and duplicate reports. Roughly 2.45 percent of tips were determined to be falsified for malicious reasons — not based on a misunderstanding of a situation.
Essi Ellis, director of Safe2Tell, said in a news release that the increase in tips may reflect increased understanding among students about how to use Safe2Tell.
Read more via The Denver Post.