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Carmel, NY – Earlier this week, as part of the Putnam County Threat Assessment Management Team’s work, Putnam County Sheriff Kevin McConville and Putnam County Executive Kevin Byrne unveiled a new mechanism to report suspicious threats or activity to authorities. PCTAM.net is for individuals in the community to be able to provide detailed information about individuals they believe are exhibiting potentially dangerous behavior, that has not yet risen to the level of an emergency. 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 Sheriff 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 (PCTAM) 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 is focused on keeping Putnam County safe through community-based intervention approaches for threats, or threatening behavior from an individual, grievance-fueled violence, and online radicalization. 

“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. Your observations are important and could potentially stop an act of targeted violence,” said County Executive Byrne. “I sincerely thank Sheriff McConville for taking the lead on this project, and I thank all the team members who contributed to the development of this important tool.”

In May 2022, Governor 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.