NORFOLK, Va. — This week alone in Hampton Roads and Northeastern North Carolina, there have been at least five incidents reported to 13News Now involving a school threat or search for a weapon on school grounds.
Police arrested and charged at least five students in connection to some of those investigations.
"It's sickening. It's sad," said Kenneth Miller, a Virginia Beach resident with four decades of experience in law enforcement.
Miller is currently serving as interim police chief in Colonial Beach, Virginia. Previously, he served as the top cop in Petersburg and a captain in Virginia Beach.
He told 13News Now there's a troubling trend in some of today's youth, "it's heart-wrenching to see these young people whose minds and opportunities are stunted because of behavior, poor behavior."
On Wednesday, the York-Poquoson Sheriff's Office announced the arrest of three teens for making school threats.
That same day, the Pasquotank County Sheriff's Office caught a student with a loaded pistol and marijuana on a bus.
And on Friday, Portsmouth authorities swept I.C. Norcom High after a tip about a possibly armed student. Officials later called an all-clear inside the school, identified the student as previously suspended, and put out an arrest warrant.
"They can really be in some serious trouble, but it's more than that. It impacts them. It impacts their family. But it also impacts the people who have to go to school, who are honestly going to school for what? An education, an opportunity to grow," said Miller.
He said it's time for everyone to take responsibility in one, reporting.
"It can be something as simple as 'there's going to be a disturbance today' or 'I hear about somebody bullying someone else.' All these things are warning signs," said Miller.
He believes adults at school also have to build a culture of trust, "kids have to feel safe about going to folks."
And then there's role modeling, which Miller said starts with parents but also lies with the community.
"Say 'hi' to a kid, talk to a kid, steer them in the right direction. Those things work. I'm telling you. You don't have to be a police officer, police chief. You don't have to be a doctor," he said.
Miller thinks it's that kind of intervention that works in prevention.