Active Shooter Risk Audits in Colorado

01Where prevention starts

Why Violence Planning Starts With Warning Behavior

Planning for an attack in progress matters, but the stronger opportunity is earlier. Threat assessment research and practice consistently describe people who later commit targeted violence as showing concerning behavior beforehand: grievances, threats, fixation on prior attacks or sudden interest in weapons. Those signals often reach a coworker, a teacher, a front-desk employee or a social media follower, so our Denver investigators start by asking whether the person who noticed would know where to go. The question for any organization is whether that person knows where to report it, and whether anyone acts. Our Colorado investigators trace that path from first report to decision.

Colorado law gives organizations a few tools to understand. The state's extreme risk protection order statute, C.R.S. § 13-14.5-101 and following, lets certain petitioners, including family or household members and law enforcement, ask a court to temporarily remove firearms from a person who poses a significant risk; counsel can explain who may petition today. Civil protection orders under C.R.S. title 13, article 14, may also be available to victims of threats. We do not file petitions or give legal advice, but a strong audit identifies when counsel or police should be consulted, often through our investigative consulting service.

• Grievances and direct or veiled threats
• Fixation on weapons or prior attacks
• Concerning posts noticed by peers
• Escalating conflict after discipline or a breakup

02Schools

School Entrances, Reporting, Drills and Reunification

Colorado schools operate under a specific legal backdrop. The Claire Davis School Safety Act, C.R.S. § 24-10-106.3, creates a limited waiver of governmental immunity when a school fails to exercise reasonable care to protect students, faculty and staff from reasonably foreseeable acts of violence at school or school-sponsored activities. The Office of School Safety, created by SB23-241 within the Department of Public Safety, offers grants, training and resources. A school's safety review should show what was foreseeable and what reasonable steps were taken, which is why documentation matters as much as hardware.

We walk entrances during arrival and dismissal, test visitor check-in, review how doors are secured during the day and examine how student and staff concerns are reported and escalated. Lockdown and evacuation drills are reviewed for realism, and reunification plans for how parents will be informed and children released when hundreds of families arrive at once. We coordinate with district counsel and safety staff, and our emergency preparedness audit can cover natural hazards in the same visit. Southern Front Range districts are served by our Colorado Springs investigators.

03Workplaces

Terminations, Former Employees and Domestic Spillover

Workplace violence risk often concentrates around predictable moments: a contentious firing, a denied promotion, a disciplinary meeting or a coworker's separation from an abusive partner. We review how terminations of concerning employees are planned, who is present, how access badges and credentials are revoked and whether front-desk staff know who is no longer permitted on site; firings that may be contested are planned with our wrongful termination team in mind. When a specific former employee is the concern, lawful monitoring of public activity may be appropriate, using the methods on our employee surveillance page.

Domestic violence frequently follows victims to work, where an abuser knows the schedule and location. Employers can help by reviewing parking and entrance routines, screening calls and visitors and coordinating with the employee about any protection order. Colorado's stalking statute, C.R.S. § 18-3-602, covers repeated following, contact or surveillance that would cause a reasonable person serious emotional distress, and a first offense is generally a class 5 felony. We document concerning contact lawfully through our stalking investigations, and safety threats go to law enforcement first.

04Health care

Hospitals, Clinics and Behavioral Health Settings

Health care workers face workplace violence more often than most occupations, and emergency departments, behavioral health units and clinics with open lobbies carry particular risk. Distressed family members, patients in crisis and people angry about care decisions can escalate quickly. We review lobby layout, staff-only entrances, badge control, panic alarms, de-escalation training and how incidents are reported and tracked. Front Range hospital systems and rural clinics on the Western Slope face different staffing realities, so recommendations are sized to each site.

Reporting culture is often the weak point. Staff who are hit, threatened or followed to their cars may stop reporting if nothing happens afterward. We interview staff privately about what they experience and what they report, then compare that to incident logs. Patterns that point to a specific person can be investigated further through our corporate investigations team, and camera and access questions overlap with our Colorado risk audit. Where a threat involves an employee being targeted online, our cyber bullying investigations document the conduct.

05Community settings

Churches, Nonprofits and Community Events

Houses of worship and nonprofits want to stay open and welcoming, which makes security planning a matter of balance. We review how greeters and volunteers are trained to notice concerning behavior, how doors are managed during services, where a lockdown or shelter area would be and how leaders would communicate with a congregation in an emergency. Many congregations rely on volunteers whose backgrounds have never been checked; where roles involve keys, children or money, our employee background checks can be adapted for volunteers with consent.

Community events, festivals and fundraisers add crowds, temporary venues and many entrances. We review event plans for entry screening where appropriate, communication between organizers and on-site security, medical response and how attendees would be moved away from a threat. Outdoor events along the Front Range also need weather plans, and we coordinate the violence review with any preparedness work. Recommendations avoid heavy-handed measures that would change the character of the organization unless the specific threat justifies them, and our Littleton investigators handle south metro site visits.

06Acting on concerns

Threat Reporting, Assessment Teams and Lawful Documentation

A reporting channel only works if reports go somewhere. We trace what happens when an employee, student or member reports a concern: who receives it, how quickly, who decides what to do and how the outcome is recorded. Many organizations benefit from a small, trained assessment team, informed where relevant by a witness background check on people involved, that includes leadership, HR or administration, security and counsel. The audit recommends a structure that fits the organization, and our workplace surveillance work shows how lawful observation can support an assessment when a concern is credible.

Documentation must stay within the law. Colorado's eavesdropping statute, C.R.S. § 18-9-304, generally requires one party's consent to record a conversation, and C.R.S. § 18-9-111 addresses harassing electronic communications. Investigators work from public places and lawful vantage points, never pose as someone else and do not access private accounts. When documentation suggests a crime or an imminent threat, the right step is a call to law enforcement, and our Colorado guide to what investigators can legally do explains the limits we observe.

07Findings and cost

Ranked Findings, Training Gaps and What This Costs

The report ranks findings by how much each would reduce risk to people, explains the evidence and recommends fixes in order of value. Many of the most effective changes are inexpensive: a door that actually latches, a front-desk script, a clear reporting route, a reunification site agreed in advance. Capital projects are recommended only when justified. The report is written so leaders who are not security specialists can act on it, and it can be addressed to counsel when privilege matters, as our attorney services page explains.

Violence risk reviews begin at $1,200, with any work past the base scope at $100 per hour. Assessments of a specific person of concern are scoped and priced separately, in writing, because they involve investigative work rather than a site review. Colorado no longer licenses private investigators at the state level, which puts the vetting on you; Delator is a licensed Tennessee firm and applies Tennessee's standard in Colorado. Every published rate appears on our Colorado service pricing page.

Services

Active shooter risk audit services in Colorado

• Entry control walkEvery public and staff entrance walked and tested at busy and quiet times, including how doors latch, who can enter and how visitors are screened.Learn more
• Threat reporting reviewThe path from a concerning report to a decision traced end to end, with gaps in who receives reports, who decides and how outcomes are recorded.Learn more
• Lockdown and shelter reviewLockdown areas, door hardware, communication methods and drill realism reviewed so people know where to go and how they will be told.Learn more
• Reunification planningPlans for informing families and releasing students, patients or staff after an incident reviewed for location, staffing, records and communication.Learn more
• Termination risk planningHigh-risk terminations reviewed for timing, attendance, credential revocation and front-desk notification well before the meeting happens rather than after it.Learn more
• Domestic violence workplace planParking, entrances, call screening and protection order coordination reviewed whenever an employee's abuser may come looking for them at the workplace.Learn more
• Person of concern assessmentLawful research on a specific individual's public conduct and statements, scoped separately and coordinated with counsel and, where needed, police.Learn more
• Volunteer and staff screeningConsent-based background checks for staff and volunteers in roles involving keys, children, money or access to restricted areas of the building.Learn more
• Ranked written reportFindings ranked by risk reduction, with evidence and practical fixes, written for leaders who must act and addressable to counsel when needed.Learn more

How it works

How a Colorado violence risk review runs

1. 01

   Scope and concerns

   We discuss the site, headcount, schedule, prior incidents and any current concern, agree on what to review and confirm the price and schedule in writing before beginning.

2. 02

   Plans and records

   We read safety plans, drill records, incident logs and reporting procedures, then identify who should be interviewed and which times of day the site should be observed.

3. 03

   Site walk and interviews

   Investigators walk entrances, interior routes and shelter areas at representative times of day and interview leaders and staff privately about what they see, hear and report.

4. 04

   Ranked report

   You receive findings ranked by risk reduction, with the evidence and practical fixes. A follow-up visit or drill can confirm that changes were made and actually work.

Compare

Settings and the questions a Colorado violence risk review asks

Statewide coverage

Violence risk reviews across Colorado

Denver metro schools, employers and congregations are reviewed by investigators assigned to Denver, Aurora and the south metro suburbs, with Boulder County campuses and employers handled through Boulder. Southern Front Range districts and military-adjacent employers run through Colorado Springs, and southern Colorado facilities through Pueblo. Western Slope and mountain sites are scheduled with winter travel in mind. Each engagement is confidential, with one written scope and one point of contact, and site visits are timed to avoid alarming students, patients or members.

• Denver
• Aurora
• Littleton
• Boulder
• Colorado Springs
• Pueblo
• All of Colorado

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Every service

Investigations available in Colorado

Every service below is available in Colorado and across Colorado, run by the same Delator Group leadership that manages our Tennessee casework. Choose a service to read how it works in Colorado.

Service areas

Private investigators across Colorado