May 2025 — Threats Against Judges Have Increased in 2025

There’s a lot going on in the world of physical risk and vulnerability; it’s nearly impossible to keep up with the latest news and developments. We’ll keep you informed with the best content to keep your organization safe and secure. Check out the top news and headlines from the past month.

Traverse City Police clear out homeless encampment

9and10news: There was a heavy police presence in Traverse City, Mich. because people living in The Pines homeless encampment were asked to leave. The Pines was an unofficial homeless encampment in Traverse City’'s Grand Traverse Commons Park. On May 6 the Traverse City police began enforcing a no-camping ordinance in the area.

Our take: Traverse City’s Pines encampment has been a site for unhoused people for a long time, and that came along with a spike in crime in the area. We often talk about inherent risk; when a homeless encampment is in your neighborhood, that increases your inherent risk. In the weeks since the camp was cleared, we’ve heard that crime rates have dropped in the area. However, if the unhoused population was simply moved along to another area, that neighborhood’s inherent risk is likely to rise. There need to be solutions that look at the entirety of the situation to have a net positive impact on inherent risk.

Sharp spike in threats to judges prompts calls for more security

From The Washington Post: A spike in threats against federal judges since President Donald Trump took office is prompting calls for new funding and security measures, with current and former jurists, lawmakers, and law enforcement officials saying existing protections are not enough.The U.S. Marshals Service investigated 373 separate threats to judges in the first five months of 2025, compared with 509 probes all of last year, according to agency data that U.S. District Judge Esther Salas of New Jersey shared with The Washington Post. The threats targeted 277 judges, some of whom were threatened more than once, compared with 379 judges threatened in all of 2024.

Our take: Political rhetoric can pose a security risk; we’ve seen this in the past and that seems to be what’s happening again. When public figures engage in threats and inflammatory rhetoric, some of their followers may feel they have permission to follow through on those threats. In this case, former judges are asking for public figures to cool their rhetoric, while law enforcement is considering additional security for the judges.

7 injured in mass shooting at Washington Park gathering

From People: Seven people were shot and injured in a mass shooting near Tacoma, Washington on May 28 evening. Lakewood police said there was a gathering of more than 100 people when some kind of dispute broke out between two groups which led to the gunfire erupting.

Our take: Gun violence is depressingly more common, as are mass shootings like the one in Tacoma. However, we will see more mass shootings until new solutions are implemented.

May Top Security Grants

Fiscal Year 2025 Safeguarding Tomorrow through Ongoing Risk Mitigation Revolving Loan Fund Program: The objective of the Safeguarding Tomorrow RLF program is to capitalize or recapitalize entity-established revolving loan funds that will provide low-interest loans to local governments most in need of financing assistance to complete hazard mitigation projects and activities. The program aims to reduce risks from natural hazards for homeowners, businesses, nonprofit organizations, and communities in order to decrease the loss of life and property, the cost of insurance, and federal disaster payments. Grant closes: September 30

Systems-Based Approaches to Improve Patient Safety by Improving Healthcare Worker Safety and Well-Being: The purpose of this grant is to advance system-level approaches to improve patient safety by improving healthcare worker safety and well-being. Patient safety cannot be fully achieved without healthcare worker safety and well-being. This NOFO will contribute to AHRQs goal of reinvigorating the patient safety movement by adding fresh perspectives and insights of healthcare professionals to efforts to improve patient safety. Grant closes: 2029

About the Author

Daniel Young

Founder & Chief Innovation Officer

Daniel has been a security and risk advisor for more than 10 years, and is passionate about helping companies to better understand their risks to undesirable events on a daily basis. Dan previously served as the Regional Bioterrorism Coordinator for District 1 in Michigan, where he was instrumental in preparing communities for catastrophic incidents. He has also acted as the Private Security Liaison for the City of Lansing’s Critical Infrastructure Team, which identified and documented deficiencies in the city’s critical infrastructure.

He is a Co-Founder of the CSO Risk Council, a think tank of seasoned security professionals and thought leaders with extensive experience in managing the physical security and risks of large enterprises consisting of multiple sites and whose mission is to create a better process to develop and share innovative solutions and pertinent information with organizations to improve safety and security risk by providing a forum to discuss best practices and recommendations for specific risk scenarios and to network with other enterprise security professionals.