Be the Shield

Today was a busy day.

I woke up to a couple of inches of snow on the ground that I wasn't expecting.  Apparently I wasn't the only one.

My thirty-minute drive to work turned into a 45-minute one, but I arrived safely as the school bus drivers came in, grumbling about the snow, and the cold.  But, they got their buses warmed up and got out on their routes a bit early.  After all the routes were done, I only had one complaint.  When we are transporting 2,000 kids to five schools in crappy weather, I will take one complaint and call it a good day.  The complaint?  The bus was a couple of minutes early.  Yeah, I'll take that.

I was working on arranging a meeting of all the district's school safety specialists.  We haven't met in a while, and we need to.  We need to work on assessing each school's emergency plans, and to plan a tabletop exercise to test our readiness.

I scheduled a Critical Incident Stress Management Team meeting for the first week in March, talked with Officer Steve Fisher of the New Palestine Police Department about trying to find funding to send two Hancock County Sheriff's Deputies to School Resource Officer Basic Training.  I also documented a couple of drivers who completed the TSA's First Observer training that taught them how to recognize terrorist planning and how to report it.

All in all a good day.

I did want to follow up on the Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdog analogy I shared yesterday.  There are Sheep who, when danger threatens, break the mold.  They do not become Sheepdogs, but they don't leave the innocent to the wolves either.  Their nature doesn't allow them to do violence, but they try to protect others in their own way.  I call them Shields. 

At Sandy Hook Elementary, Anne Marie Murphy, a teacher, was reportedly found dead with her arms around a dead student.  She could not engage the shooter, but attempted to shield one of her students from the evil that had entered their room.

There are many educators like that.  They may not be Sheepdogs, and that's OK.  But that doesn't mean that they care any less for their students, or wouldn't do anything to save them.  It's easy to be a Shield.

You decide that you love someone more than yourself, at the moment of truth.

Teachers Train in Active Schooter

Teachers Train

The Alabama Association of School Resource Officers conducted Active Shooter Training for educators recently.  The training was different in that the educators were training like the law enforcement officers.  The used guns with simmunitions, real-life guns that shoot paint bullets.

This type of training puts the educators in the shoes of the police officers, and gives them a glimpse of what an Active Shooter Incident is like from their perspective.

Analysis

The Indiana School Safety Specialist Academy conducted similar training a couple of years ago at the Muskatatuck Urban Training Center, specifically in an old hospital.

                                                  Indiana educators move in a 'diamond' formation

I had the privilege of acting as the "red team", which means I played a bad guy.  I had previously received certification from the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy in Basic Active Shooter Doctrine, and had conducted previous exercises with the Academy.

Watching the educators learn how to move as a response team offered me additional insights into teaching educators tactics.  The teachers and administrators who were involved in the training were eager to learn, and the exposure to the tactics gave them a new-found respect for law enforcement.  In that regard, the training succeeded.

But as far as providing educators with the tactical skills needed to survive in those environments, the two day training fell far short.  I recall in one scenario, a teacher stuck her gun around a corner, turned her head away, and opened fire into a room.  While giving those around the teacher a good chuckle, it was not a sound tactical move.

All in all, the training was excellent, and the educators involved learned a lot.

The personality types of educators does not often lend itself to the learning of tactical skills.  This concept will be examined further in future blog posts.

5 Students Arrested for Threat against School

Keenesburg, CO

Last week Monday, May 12, two students were arrested after a student reported a possible threat of violence against Weld County High School involving weapons.  A third student was arrested on Tuesday.  All three were charged with suspicion of interference with staff, faculty or students of an educational institution.

On Friday, the School Resource Officer at the high school became aware that two friends of the three suspects were plotting to pick up where their friends left off.  They were arrested on the same charge as their friends.  All of the boys who were arrested identify themselves as a "gang".

The Weld County Sheriff's Office issued the following statement, “The Weld County Sheriff’s Office has focused additional resources toward the investigation of this incident and will continue to provide heightened security measures as deemed necessary through the end of Weld Central’s school year.”

Analysis
Lost in the clutter of this story is that a student, and an SRO provided details about this plot.  In Chapter 5 of Staying Alive, the warnings signs of violence are provided for both adults and children.  In that chapter you learn that there is usually 'leakage' that occurs, indicators that someone is planning violence. 

It is good that the student at Weld County High School felt comfortable enough with school personnel to come forward with the information.  It is also good that the SRO was on-the-spot with the development of his/her intel.

Staying Alive's Chapter 5 is a must read for people who work with children!