Wyoming school tip line law

Does Wyoming require a school tip line?

Yes, on the state side: the Wyoming attorney general must set up a call center to take information about school and student safety issues and help get it to local law enforcement, emergency responders and school district officials. That duty remains in the current statutes at W.S. 9-1-603(a)(ix). The attorney general may make rules to run the call center. The federal SchoolSafety.gov state page lists Safe2Tell Wyoming, a school safety tip line, under the Wyoming Attorney General's Office.

What must schools do?

The call center paragraph puts no duty on districts or schools to adopt, publicize, train on or respond to the line, and sets no hours, response timeline, false-report penalty, data report or funding. A 2019 bill, SF0064, would have required each district's safety and security plan to include publicizing the state call center to all staff and students. It failed in the House Committee of the Whole on February 15, 2019, 13-43, so that duty was not enacted. Separately, under the Safe School Climate Act, each district's bullying policy must include procedures for reporting harassment, intimidation or bullying, including anonymous reports; formal discipline may not rest only on an anonymous report.

How does the line work?

The Wyoming Highway Patrol's site describes Safe2Tell Wyoming as a 24/7 statewide tip line for students and community members to report school safety concerns confidentially. The attorney general's Division of Victim Services describes it as a prevention-based reporting system set up in 2016 for confidential reports about concerns or threats to a community or school. These are agency descriptions of practice, not requirements in the statute.

Are reports anonymous and confidential?

To the extent possible, the identity of those who report through the call center must stay unknown to all persons and entities. All call center records and information are confidential and are not public records under the Wyoming Public Records Act. Except under a court order, the attorney general cannot be made to produce materials obtained through the call center.

What happens with a false report?

Wyoming's general false-reporting law, not a penalty written for Safe2Tell, makes it a misdemeanor to knowingly report falsely to a 911 system, a law enforcement agency or a fire department that a crime was committed, punishable by up to six months in jail, a fine of up to $750, or both. Under the same general law, a knowingly false report of an emergency that results in a death is manslaughter.

When did it start, and how was it funded?

The Governor signed SF0097 on March 11, 2016, and it became Chapter 100 of the 2016 Session Laws. The act took effect immediately once it became law. It allowed the Office of Homeland Security to transfer federal homeland security funds to the attorney general to run the call center. It also allowed that office to transfer up to two full-time positions, funded only with federal money, to the attorney general for the call center. The attorney general had to report on the call center's effectiveness to the joint appropriations and joint education committees by October 15, 2016 and again by October 15, 2017.