We commend the Suffolk police and fire and rescue departments and Suffolk Public Schools for responding so quickly to the bomb threat at Lakeland High School on Monday.

The threat, called in to 911 about an hour before school was to start, unfortunately came from an untraceable cell phone, so police cannot identify the person responsible. However, if they could, whoever it was would surely be facing criminal charges and, if they were a student, expulsion.

Hopefully the fact that the threat didn’t upset the school day much will make the perpetrator think twice about doing it again. Often, when it is a student calling in the threat, they are trying to get out of a test or some other assignment they don’t want to do. Maybe this incident will make them realize that threats are not a joke, and they should simply study when they have a difficult test ahead of them.

If this perpetrator wasn’t a student, they should realize that these things have serious consequences. Whatever the perpetrator’s motive for this serious crime, we hope it doesn’t happen again, and we’re glad danger was avoided this time.