Putnam Reveals New Threat Reporting Tool

PUTNAM COUNTY, NY — As part of Putnam's Threat Assessment Management Team’s work, County Sheriff Kevin McConville and County Executive Kevin Byrne unveiled a new mechanism to report suspicious threats or activity to authorities.

PCTAM.net is for residents. It aims to help them provide detailed information about individuals they believe are exhibiting potentially dangerous behavior, that has not yet risen to the level of an emergency.

"I encourage individuals to report any concerning behaviors to PCTAM.net — behaviors such as threats, intense or escalating anger, interest in weapons, depression or isolation, changes in behavior or appearance, or interests in violence or talk of being bullied," Byrne said. "Your observations are important and could potentially stop an act of targeted violence."

In the event of imminent danger or actions, residents are reminded to call 911.

Submissions on PCTAM.net are not widely distributed to all members of the threat assessment management team, but are instead evaluated immediately after being submitted by a small team of mental health and local law enforcement investigators.

“Pre-attack behaviors and indicators are part of a well-documented phenomenon that occurs prior to an incident of targeted violence, known as the pathway to violence,” said McConville. “This pathway has many subparts, and if we can intervene on any one of these parts, we will be able to prevent an act of violence from occurring and potentially saving lives. The goal here is prevention, not prosecution.”

The Putnam County Threat Assessment Management Team is a multi-disciplinary team that brings together law enforcement, mental health professionals, school officials, social service agencies, and other community stakeholders to identify, assess, and manage threats of targeted violence. PCTAM.net is focused on keeping Putnam safe through community-based intervention approaches for threats, or threatening behavior from an individual, grievance-fueled violence, and online radicalization.

In May 2022, Gov. Kathy Hochul issued Executive Order 18 directing each county to develop plans to confront domestic terrorism. Grant funding was made available to all 57 counties and New York City to support development of Threat Assessment and Management Teams, a key component in meeting requirements of Domestic Terrorism Prevention Plans. The Executive Order was designed to fight the troubling surge in domestic terrorism and violent extremism frequently inspired by, planning on, and posted about on social media platforms and internet forums.

You can watch the news conference on YouTube.