School Security SOP's/Plans

[mikelowrey]

I would bet there are any number of organizations that would do a free security assessment for a school in the current climate. Local law enforcement, maybe even contact your local FBI office to see if they have a resource. I bet even private security companies would be willing to come out and either do an informal assessment, or observe the site and write up a proposal.

The key thing is to get decision makers to focus on the desired outcome: real, physical safety of our kids, not more rules and regulations. Barriers. Armed personnel. etc

The one key thing that seems to be missing from so many of these school shootings is any form of internal security. Seems to me EVERY office and classroom out to have lockable breach-resistant doors and windows that every teacher can lock quickly, ideally electronically with a remote and physically with inside locks. And teachers ought to have communications with the office and each other via intercom broadcast, walkie-talkies, cell phones etc. that have an alert capability.

It may not be practical to totally eliminate the possibility of an armed intruder shooting a couple of people, but they should never be abble to get to any other room in the building or other buildings once the shooting or alert starts.

Excellent on everything. I only got to do 6 months of school in USA and the rest out of the country. I noticed in that time that every classroom has a phone where they can call or get contacted. I think a new measure is that every personnel should have at least a walkie talkie on them from now on because it is quicker to communicate that going into a classroom if you happen to be outside. There is so many things to take into account where we can definitely improve security. I also believe that having a "Command Center" where there is a personnel there during school hours managing, overseeing the security cameras and be able to control most of the things, hey why not? I have seen these in big corporate companies when I used to do Corporate Security. There's plenty of them we just need to be able to get the fund at least from DHS

[mikelowrey]

At least we have one that started:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nati...icle-1.1223381

[smoky]

Private armed security here.

If I was asked to stand a post at a school I would jump on that in a heartbeat.

[francobx22]

I think what you have done as a citizen and as a parent a great idea. Being a Leo in NYC and raised in the city, schools were covered with school safety and always had armed officers mins by. Non the less into highschool most city schools had metal detectors. If things happened in the nature of shooting/stabbing with was always after hours off grounds, as security was to tight getting into the school. Now the school safety in NYC weren't armed but they def did the job in keeping weapons out. With that being said even if an active shooter came into the building there would still be some kinda presence of security to apprehend the individual , buying time to get an alert out to local authorities.

I think at the NRA press conference, people were missing the big picture, nevermind having someone with a gun but the fact of the matter is to have SOMEONE there! And this is more so for the suburban school which are more prone to these sort of attacks.

I think all schools should instill some kind of security personnel units. I couldn't agree with this thread anymore !

Sent from my SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

[skydivr]

The best part of the NRA news conference was their proposal to write a school security plan that schools could tailor to fit their perceived threat level, and how far they were willing to go, up to arming teachers. I will be interersted to see what they come out with and that may help with my quest to get the school to at least THINK about improving their security posture.

Armed officers in the schools, while probably the best solution under the circumstances, is probably not going to outlast the budget cut cycle. Hopefully they will start by focusing on simple, cost efficient measures and go from there. What I realllllly want is the ability to CCW (although I reallize that is fraught with danger, as a CCW is just a 'license to learn' and many who CCW do not have the good skills or common sense to take on that task.

[bobn911]

I am a reserve police officer for the township I live in. I have had all the training a regular officer has to have including 'active shooter'. I took a couple of days vacation from my full time job before Christmas because I could. I was asked to provide security for the elemetary school in the morning and the afternoon on the days I took off. On the second day before I took my post, the dept. had a 911 call from a school phone. The regular asked me to go with him. We went to the Middle school first because it was the closest. Nothing from there. We then went to the high school and found out the call came from there. The Admin of the school then asked me to patrol the Middle school all day. Just 'walk' the halls. So I did.
Ladies and gentlemen, I have never felt so welcome in my life. All of the teachers and students thanked me over and over. I think we may have set a record giving high fives and fist bumps. Too bad I can't give up my regular job to do this full time.
To anyone thinking about doing the reserve thing, all I can say is give it a shot. I have 14 years between 2 dept's and have not been sorry yet. Later, Bob

[mikelowrey]

I am a reserve police officer for the township I live in. I have had all the training a regular officer has to have including 'active shooter'. I took a couple of days vacation from my full time job before Christmas because I could. I was asked to provide security for the elemetary school in the morning and the afternoon on the days I took off. On the second day before I took my post, the dept. had a 911 call from a school phone. The regular asked me to go with him. We went to the Middle school first because it was the closest. Nothing from there. We then went to the high school and found out the call came from there. The Admin of the school then asked me to patrol the Middle school all day. Just 'walk' the halls. So I did.
Ladies and gentlemen, I have never felt so welcome in my life. All of the teachers and students thanked me over and over. I think we may have set a record giving high fives and fist bumps. Too bad I can't give up my regular job to do this full time.
To anyone thinking about doing the reserve thing, all I can say is give it a shot. I have 14 years between 2 dept's and have not been sorry yet. Later, Bob

Nice to hear this story! Hopefully everybody would be able to develop a nice plan, or, we could see how the NRA's plan would work since they are offering on their expense.

[skydivr]

I would be glad, at my own expense, to go thru this training in order to 'help out' at my child's school.

[skydivr]

Update: Well, whadda know, my recommendation actually turned into ACTION. Today, the schoolmaster sent out the following to all parents:
-------------------

Dear Parents,

In the aftermath of last month's tragic school shooting in Connecticut, we have all been praying for the victims and those who love them. We have also been grateful for the safety we enjoy at **************, but mindful that vigilance and preparation are the price of security. We must always do all we can to keep our students and staff safe at all times.

To that end, we are forming a taskforce of volunteers to review our safety procedures and emergency plans, and make recommendations to our administration and Board of Trustees on how we might improve them even further. If you have expertise in the areas or law enforcement, safety, emergency preparedness, medical, or other relevant fields, and you would be willing to serve on this special taskforce, please reply to this message. We have already enlisted the participation of Captain*****of the ******* Police Department, who is the father of two **** alumni.

Working together, we will keep our school safe for everyone.

Blessings,

[Hdog83]

I am a reserve police officer for the township I live in. I have had all the training a regular officer has to have including 'active shooter'.....[SNIP] To anyone thinking about doing the reserve thing, all I can say is give it a shot. I have 14 years between 2 dept's and have not been sorry yet. Later, Bob

Thanks for signing up and replying bobn911 (great first post by you). I'm looking harder at the reserve officer route, as it seems unlikely that the environment will be right for eliminating disarmed victim free-fire zones any time soon in the northeast. A few questions, if I might (other reserve officers or those with specific knowledge please also chime in):

- in what state (or region) are you located?
- you say that, as a reserve, you have had "all the training a regular officer has to have" - did you have to attend and graduate from a full-time academy?
- what are the broad dimensions of your initial training prior to being sworn in (e.g., total weeks/months, full days vs. evenings/weekends, length of field training post-swearing in but prior to solo assignment)?
- are the academies state- (or other govt-) operated in your state (I think some states get their recruits from accredited private sector academies)?
- did the state, county or locality have to pay for part or all of the cost of your initial training?
- as a reserve, what (if any) are your minimums for service hours per month (or other unit of time)?

In my case, I expressly don't want to get paid or to add any kind of income stream for myself, and I really, REALLY don't want to even create the appearance of going after any full-time officer's paid detail or overtime work, as I'm sure this would just create a lot of anger and resentment.

Thanks.