Anonymous tips about warning signs and signals related to youth violence continue to rise through Pennsylvania’s Safe2Say Something reporting system, now in its third year.

The youth violence prevention program, run by the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, generated 26,174 tips in the 2021-22 school year, up from 15,679 the year prior.

Representatives from the attorney general’s office spoke to Lehighton Area High School students Wednesday morning, urging them to use the Safe2Say system if they have concerns about anything ranging from cyber bullying to threats of school violence or warning signs of self-harm.

Lehighton High School Principal Sue Howland said tips, which can be reported through a mobile app, the Safe2Say website or by phone, are coming into the district and the process is working.

“Since first day of school, we have had 14 Safe2Say tips,” she said. “Of those, seven have resulted in consequences. Six have resulted in some type of intervention, whether it’s counseling or dialogue. And one is a monitoring situation, meaning we’re watching it because the tip is unfounded but still reliable.”

Since the launch of the program, the tip line has received more than 80,000 tips statewide.

The top three tip categories are bullying/cyber bullying, smoking in school, and suicide ideation.

Of the total Safe2Say tips received in Pennsylvania, 72.9% have focused on instances of bullying, suicide and self harm, mental illness, or discrimination and harassment. That led Attorney General Josh Shapiro earlier this year to call on the state to do more to support students and their mental well-being.

As well as the program is working, the attorney general’s office reports that a large number of false reports are also filed.

During the 2021-22 school year, the Safe2Say Something Program received a total of 1,053 tips that were designated as false reports or prank tips. Of those, 384 contained what seemed like credible information, yet were proven untrue upon investigation; or the information was provided with the intention to harm or disrupt.

“We want students to use the system as it was intended to be used and that’s part of the reason we’re having the assemble here today,” Howland said.

Students also heard from Michelle Nutter, education and outreach program manager for the state attorney general’s office, on the importance of reporting instances of bullying and harassment.

“If bullying were something that you could stop just by ignoring it, we wouldn’t be talking about it,” Nutter said. “There wouldn’t be rules or laws about bullying because we could just tell the other person to knock it off. But bullying is one of those situations where we need help from others to make it stop, whether you’re 8 or 18.”

Nutter educated students on the legal issues that come along with things such as sending inappropriate pictures via text message or posting them to a social media platform.

“When our office has to come to a school to talk to a student about something, at the high school level it is more often than not because of something you put out there online,” she told students. “I want to see you all have the future that you’re dreaming about.”

Lehighton also hosted a Safe2Say presentation Tuesday night for parents and Wednesday afternoon for middle school students.