A Comment Worthy Of A Post 1-14-16

Anonymous said...

B - Active shooter.

Fire and bomb threat should be handled the same way....a neat and orderly evacuation and an accounting of all students and faculty. This is a no brainer yet seems to have eluded school administrators during recent events here in Wicomico County. Schools, law enforcement, Emergency Management, and local politicians should be coming together to conduct threat assessments and develop a protocol for each threat. While the idea may strike many as common sense, the necessary steps to open dialogue on this issue doesn't seem to have taken place.

What seems to be the problem? Why hasn't this been done? I have consulted with both school and local governments in the past as they put together such protocols and the bottleneck always seems to be the same thing. Money. I was told once by a Town Manager that their town would not put a price on the lives of it's employees when it came to offering adequate protection and putting safeguards and policies in place to protect them. Due to past experiences I knew better. In less than a day I was hearing things such as "Wow it would cost a lot of money to change that" which ultimately, and without exception leads to "Do we really need to do these things? What is the likelihood that this would ever happen here?". My response has always been "You asked me to assess and suggest. Whether or not you take the suggestions is your decision". Money has always been and will continue to be the deciding factor when it comes to the safety of our children. Employees will not show up for mandatory training without being paid. The glass company will not install impact resistant glass without being paid. Alarm systems on rooms containing chlorine tanks in water treatment facilities will not be installed without paying the alarm company to install and monitor.

These things cost money. Money which is controlled by elected officials as they approve budgets submitted by agency heads. You can't blame a Sheriff or Police Chief if they present a budget for a bomb dog or additional training in these areas and these budget requests are cut. At the same time you can't blame your council if the requests aren't made. You can be sure that every request will be met with the same question - "What are the chances that it will happen here?" and my favorite comment "The chances of that happening here are almost zero". This is almost identical to the comment made by the chief of police in Sandyhook one week before the horrific event which took place on December 14, 2012. It's a gamble that weighs the likelihood of a mass casualty incident happening in your area against the safety and security of your community.

The first step in creating a protocol for responses to critical incidents is to put together an action team comprised of members of law enforcement (any that would be responding in your area), fire departments/EMS, schools - including colleges in your area, someone from FEMA or someone certified by FEMA/MEMA, Someone from local hospitals representing the emergency departments and security, and any other entity that may have something to offer.

I would submit that it is the responsibility of every citizen to impress upon their local elected official the importance of the safety of the community and schools and that it is not acceptable to gamble with the lives of our children. This national election has become almost entirely about our security here at home and it is no less important on a local level. It is also the responsibility of each citizen to become aware of the dangers that exist in our world today and I believe that is happening more and more everyday.Your safety and your security is your responsibility. That's probably why there were so many positive responses to the article on this blog about the Maryland CRT.