The New Jersey Police Chief Magazine | September 2018
Best Practices for School Safety Communications
By Mark Anderko, Operationalization Director, Mutualink, Deputy Chief of Police( Ret.), Edison PD
School shooting statistics are quite staggering: according to Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, there have been at least 50 incidents of gunfire on school grounds in 2018. Despite plans, training and increased levels of awareness, there are no guarantees that these events can be prevented. Preparedness, then, is one of the single most important components to ensuring that first responders make the right decisions to avoid escalation and reduce time to resolution to save lives when bad things happen on campus.
PREPARE YOUR TEAM NOW Predicting incidents of crisis is next to impossible. In New Jersey, we have the good fortune to have avoided a shooting event in our schools over the last decade while other states have suffered devastating blows. This leaves us in a position to prepare and learn from the current national climate of hyper-focus on school safety. What steps make sense now?
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Ensure your team is familiar with your school district’ s School Safety and Security Plans. Plans are required by the New |
Jersey Department of Education Office of School Preparedness and Emergency Planning. |
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Work with school administrators to document Standard Operating Procedures( SOPs) for school safety and security. |
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Schedule tabletop and live training to practice plans and SOPs with the schools. |
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Make a firm commitment to constant improvement. |
Committing to safety and security measures to protect students, faculty, and visitors, and practicing making response routine will result in optimal decision-making during a potential crisis.
FORGE PARTNERSHIPS WITH AREA SCHOOLS In the event of an emergency, those on the scene must be as prepared as the first responders. The Unified Command Structure will be called on to make decisions in the first few critical minutes of a crisis. In law enforcement, we rely on exercises to improve tactical team operations. For school safety, the team also includes administrators, faculty, and possibly private security resource officers. While some individuals may be reluctant due to lack of familiarity, embracing them as team members will improve outcomes when needed.
Law enforcement’ s role in the school safety team also includes that of advisor or consultant. School administrators and boards are charged with wisely spending taxpayer dollars to keep school communities safe, while faced with myriad options for measures to take. Hardening schools is a start, but once an active shooter is on campus, it’ s first responders who will be called on to mitigate the intrusion. It’ s up to us, as Police Chiefs, to provide guidance to schools to ensure that they are fully considering what’ s needed to save lives.
Most active shooter after action reports cite communications breakdowns. So, it’ s important that we ensure that schools consider how they will notify and communicate with us during an emergency. An emerging best practice is to equip teachers and staff with a panic button app for their smartphone, along with a multimedia interoperability platform that instantly shares radio and video from the school with first responders as the app places a 9-1-1 call. At the same time, other faculty on campus receive a notification that a panic button has been deployed.
In this way, first responders have audio and visual contact from the school immediately and arrive on scene well-informed. Moreover, through the platform, law enforcement personnel can notify other partners on platform of the unfolding event. These partners might include those providing mutual aid, state and county agencies and officials, and hospitals. The key is to include all partners in early teambuilding exercises.
CONTINUALLY SEEK FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES Federal funding to reduce school violence and prepare for active shooter situations is available to support school safety initiatives. Following the violence in Parkland, Florida, the administration made this a priority to improve security at schools and expedite notification of law enforcement during an emergency.
Also, in response to the tragic shooting, New Jersey lawmakers voted in favor of a bill to provide $ 500 million for school security grants. No matching funds are required from schools to qualify for these funds.
Anyone interested in learning more about how to fund school safety can contact me directly at manderko @ mutualink. net, Office: 732-258-0055 or Cell: 609-664-6128.
School safety is important to everyone – law enforcement, administrators, parents, students, and the community. Adopting best practices in emergency preparedness will allow for quick and effective response to crises and enable the best possible outcomes.
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