Calgary police are taking a threat they received through email against a number of schools in the city seriously and are working with other law enforcement agencies to identify the source.
Police received the email on Thursday, February 5 and say making threats is a criminal offence but so far there is nothing to indicate the threats are legitimate.
“Email’s directed to the Calgary Police Service but the threats were made against a number of schools in the Calgary area. Subsequent to that, some schools also received an email directed at them,” said Kevin Brookwell, CPS Spokesperson.
Police are notifying parents, teachers and stakeholders at the schools that were named and say people should keep an eye out for any suspicious activity.
Officials say school safety is priority number one and that there are certain protocols that must be followed and activated when something like this happens.
“We’ve determined at this point that there’s no validity to these threats so we will continue to work with the schools, we’ll keep an eye on the schools,” said Brookwell.
Those security measures include; an increased police presence around schools and working closely with school administration and staff to address any security concerns.
“Basically what it was is it involves a virtual currency or bitcoins and there were threats made that there would be explosive devices detonated at certain schools, at certain times, if a certain amount of bitcoin currency was not put into an account so we’re working with our law enforcement partners, both in Canada and south of the border,” he said.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Calgary Police Service non-emergency line at 403-266-1234 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at:
TALK: 1-800-222-8477
TYPE: www.calgarycrimestoppers.org
TEXT: tttTIPS to 274637
