ReportSomeone.com was founded by Nancy Brown March 6, 2001. After hearing about the latest school shooting in Santee, CA,  she knew that there was something that needed to be done to inspire teenagers to tell someone if their friend or anyone threatened to bring a gun to school.  

Nancy has 4 children, with two grown and two still at home. She also has two grandchildren. Both children at home are boys, ages 16 and 12. Her children, along with  neighbor friends, contributed to ReportSomeone.com.  They gave her some insight into what was needed to inspire teens to want to report a friend who may be bringing a deadly weapon to school.

In the 2000-2001 school year, Nancy's oldest son at home was in 8th grade. One morning before school she was reading the newspaper and saw an article about a young boy who tried to buy a gun from a couple of our neighborhood children. She immediately showed this article to her son and he told her that he knew all about it. All of the children involved were his friends.  Apparently a boy stole over $750 from his grandmother. He gave two of her son's friends money to buy a gun; one received $500 and the other $250.

Many children in the neighborhood knew that this young man was serious about buying a gun. Many teenagers knew that money had changed hands. Not one child told an adult. In this case one of the mother's knew that her son had received a large sum of money from another child. No one called the police at that time. The police were finally called and alerted to the situation when the other boy's mother overheard her son talking about the situation.

Nancy was distraught after talking with her son and many of HIS FRIENDS.  All of the teenagers said the same thing:   "I will not tattle on my friend. He wasn't threatening me so I didn't have anything to worry about."   Nancy couldn't believe what she was hearing. She raised her children well and thought that they understood how precious life is. She thought that they knew to confide in her about something as serious as a teen wanting to buy a gun or anyone bringing a gun to school. But after talking with other teenagers,  she realized that this was not just her children but most teens. They did not want to tattle on a friend, at least not verbally.

Nancy called the local school board and insisted that they bring the  D.A.R.E. program in the middle school. This is a program that use the police to talk to elementary school children about drugs. Nancy insisted that they go into the middle and high schools to talk to teens about why it is important to tell someone if any of their friends talk about bringing a deadly weapon to school. Nancy called the newspaper and told them to come talk with her son and his friends to get into their minds to find out why they would not tell on a friend.  The D.A.R.E. program said that they did not have the funds to continue the program in the middle and high schools. The newspaper wasn't interested in this story.

Nancy knew that she had to do something. She could not wait for anymore children to be killed.  She knew that the key to reducing teenage killings in school would be to get through to the teenagers and let them know that it is okay to tell someone if anyone is threatening to bring a gun to school.

Nancy's idea for ReportSomeone.com came the day of the Santee, CA shooting. She knew that most teenagers love the Internet. This is the future. She knew that teens might be more willing to report someone if they could do it anonymously and without their friends knowing . That is why she had her children help contribute to the website. She was excited when her son, who was 15 years old at that time, showed interest in helping her.  This is a child,  like most teenagers, who doesn't show much interest in anything their parents do, yet he was willing to help. 

Nancy asked her teenage son this one question:   

"Would you use ReportSomeone.com to report someone who is threatening to bring a gun to school?"

Nancy's son said:

"Yes, if I knew the web address". 

Nancy knew that she had broke through to all teenagers everywhere. 

ReportSomeone.com was designed for teenagers, but many adults use it also. There are links to report not only teenagers who are threatening to bring a gun to school, but to report if any of their friends might be talking about suicide,  if anyone is being abused, or if anyone might be bringing drugs to school.  This website provides links for information that interest teens and adults.  

We need the public's support to make sure that all teenagers in every corner of the United States know that ReportSomeone.com is available for them. Teenagers can get involved without feeling as if they are betraying their friends. The public needs to show the teenagers that getting involved is important and that is the only way we can stop school violence.  We are here to help them. We hope that the public will show us the support that we need to make this program a success. 

If you would like to learn more on how you can help us, contact Nancy Brown at 877-898-1556 or click here.