The Assessment of Anonymous Threatening Communications

Perhaps now more than any time in history, anonymous threatening communications (ATCs) are easily delivered, highly disruptive, and frequently used by offenders who seek to frighten, harass, and intimidate their victims. The ability to quickly and defensibly triage and evaluate ATCs has become a necessary skill for threat assessment professionals who serve on corporate security, education, or community-based teams. In this chapter, the authors (both former members of the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit) provide a step-by-step operational guide for the analysis of ATCs. The methods and strategies shared by the authors can be easily adopted and used by threat assessors to confidently address this growing challenge.