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Businesses, schools, synagogues, etc. are required to monitor social media to spot potential threats and must offer active-shooter awareness training to employees, management and staff in order to maintain active shooter insurance.

Businesses and government depts. are buying coverage, also called “active-assailant” insurance, for legal costs and other expenses in the event of a shooting.

For example, school administrators consider the likelihood of a shooting real enough that some districts are buying active-shooter insurance.

The coverage, also called “active-shooter” insurance, gained traction in the past year, following several mass shootings. Schools use it in hopes of avoiding litigation and offsetting costs for counseling services, crisis management and added security after an attack.

“It at least gives us some peace of mind that, in the event of horrible tragedy, we can begin to put things in place,” said Lance Erlwein, treasurer of Belpre City Schools, a district of 1,000 students in southeastern Ohio, which purchased a plan last year that includes a $25,000 death benefit per victim and trauma counseling. “Fifteen years ago who would have ever thought you would need something like this. It’s awful that schools have become the target.”

After a mass shooting at a school, it isn’t unusual for victims and grieving family members to file lawsuits against a school district alleging negligence, including for matters such as failing to provide adequate security or missing warning signs of a would-be-shooter.

After the February mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., 15 survivors filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Florida in July against several parties, including the school district’s superintendent, law-enforcement officials and Broward County. They seek monetary damages to be determined by a jury and attorney fees for alleged failures to protect students at the school.

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More Schools Are Buying ‘Active-Shooter’ Insurance Policies (#GotBitcoin?)