Active Shooter in School - Essay Example

Active shooter in school affiliation Active shooter in school Schools are also prone to disastrous incidents, and if there are no plans to deal with this incident then many lives may be lost. Furthermore, the reports by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) indicate that the incidents of active shootings are on the rise and schools are targeted. The aim of this study is to come up with a plan that deals with the insecurity, mitigation and the preparedness of Granby High School to incidents of active shootings. Introduction Schools are known to be safe environments from the ancient times; the security of the school might deteriorate in moments of an active shooter incident, leading to the tragic loss of lives. An active shooter is a word used by the law enforcement to define a condition where a shooting is ongoing. In this incident, an aspect of the crime can affect the protocol applied in reacting at and responding to the incident. This active aspect means that the citizens and the law enforcement personnel’s are capable of determining the outcome of the crime, unlike in a defined crime like mass killing or murder. An active shooter is a person determined to kill numerous people regardless of their age and when he or she enters a school. Thus, in active shooting incidents, children and adults are at high risk of being killed if there is lack of a proper plan of such incidents. These incidents do not take a long time and in three minutes, the active shooter will be through with their killings and disappear or kill themselves, but after causing a significant number of deaths. For instance, on April 16, 2007, in Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, thirty-two individuals were killed and an additional sixteen injured in 10 to 12 minutes with 174 rounds fired. Also, in Sandy Hook Elementary School and a home in Newton, twenty-seven people were killed and two wounded with 154 rounds being fired on December 14, 2012 and it only took a matter of six minutes to complete this mission. These are between the two active shooting incidents in schools that had the highest number of casualties. Discussion The United States Department of Education (USDE) and the Office of Safe and Drugs-Free Schools (OSDFS) came up with a guide in the year 2003 and revised it in 2007. This guide named “Practical information on crisis planning” is for use by the school officials and administrators to guide them on crisis preparedness in the school. The purpose of this review is to come up with a plan on how to mitigate and prevent occurrences of active shootings at Granby High School, in South Hampton. Additionally, this plan will be developed from the universal guidance, but the administrators of the school to fit its local needs should do customization. Through this plan, the school will be able to cultivate a safer environment for its students and staffs. The plan will comprise on steps on how to mitigate and prepare for ancient shooting incidents at the school (USDE, 2007). Mitigation-prevention phase In this phase, mitigation means the actions the school administrators and officials may carry out to reduce or eliminate the adverse impacts of incidents that cannot be stopped. While prevention is the proactive procedures to be taken by school officials to minimize the likelihood of an adverse crisis or event to occur. Moreover, mitigation-prevention activities can assist in saving lives through the encouragement of long-term decrease of hazard susceptibility. Furthermore, mitigation can minimize the exposure to liability and from a legal angle; the schools are susceptible to a suit for neglect if not all the crucial actions are carried out in good faith to make the schools a safer place. The first stage of this phase is vulnerability assessments, which will help school officials to pinpoint and select what actions they ought to take to prevent or mitigate possible hazards that could affect the school. Nevertheless, vulnerability assessment does not only help to minimize the probability of incidents, but to also measure and make sure that the school is well set in to deal with the active shooting incident if they occur. Therefore, this assessment must comprise of yearly audits on safety and security regarding all the facilities in the school and the school grounds, including parking lots, cafeterias, classrooms, and playgrounds, among others (Perry & Lindell, 2003). Secondly, the audit must assess if delivery individuals are needed to use designated entrances or they have unmonitored access to students, and if some areas in the school are secluded that need to be monitored, to be lightened up, or to have access controls. Also, this assessment should include an impostor assessment with an auditor posturing as an outsider and entering the school. This must be administered so to access the efficiency of the guest procedures and to make sure if there are locations that are accessible easily and the amount of time it takes for an intruder to be recognized. Additionally, it accesses how often the measures are dishonored. Through this assessment, the weaknesses in the school security will be known, and this will help to prevent future incidents. After vulnerability assessment, we have communication protocols, the communication within and among the school must be good as fear and chaos are prone in every institution. With good communication, calm and control will prevail. Besides, the school should ensure individuals managing the children in case of a crisis receive timely and accurate information to ensure the students are safeguarded as good as possible. Additionally, families need to be communicated to when incidents occur and need to be given assurance that their children are safe and where they can go and get their children, and in case of anything they need to be updated. A common, clear and reliable vocabulary that everyone is aware of should be used when giving out commands so that individuals can know what action or response is needed. Systems that can help the staff, teachers and students to identify of commands are from responders or offenders should be put in place. Also, communication gears must be assigned to appropriate individuals like the principal. This will enable him or her communicate with all departments in the school compound including the cafeteria, classrooms, bus drivers, and custodians among others. Other methods of communication must be in place as sometimes the telephones, hand-held radios, cell phones, and computers may stop working and sometimes using them during some incidents they may activate bombs ((ED), 2007). After the communication process, we have the Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED). This is based on the idea that appropriate design and operational use of the surroundings can decrease the active shooting incidents in schools. CPTED states that all school facilities need to be designed properly to improve natural surveillance by utilizing the building designs, proper maintenance of the landscape, lighting and clearing bushes or scrubs. Since they can be used by intruders for hiding or gaining easy access to the electric, gas, or phone lines. Another aspect of CPTED is the designation of formal areas for gathering, and anyone seen in the off-limit and informal areas they should be scrutinized. Security equipment should also be installed to provide formal surveillance of the high incident areas. After designation of formal areas, there is access control. This includes controlling the school perimeter through decreasing the number of exits and entrances; requiring guests and visitors to pass through a certain entrance so that they may be screened; controlling and limiting access to the parking zones; and making sure the visitor traffic coming from both the vehicles and pedestrians are easily monitored. Lastly, is target hardening which is a tactic designed to reduce criminal opportunities and make it harder for the active shooters to carry out their missions. It also increases the likelihoods of apprehension and slow their activities through processes like ensuring each class can be locked from inside, among others. Preparedness This stage focuses on the preparation for the worst situation before the event happens. The first category is the development of a management crisis plan. This must include particular unities appropriated to all crisis management strategies but tailored to the specific requirements of a certain school, like in my case Granby High School. The crisis management plan should be operational in the occurrence of an active shooting incident and it has to indicate what to take place, when, and who will be in charge of directing students in case of active shooting incidents. Also, the plan indicates the role of security officers, school commander, student caregivers, medical staff, and representative, in cooperation with the emergency providers. The plan must also have the language to be used and the plan must address the unique requirements of staffs and students with different disabilities. Additionally, a mechanism for notifying individuals in the event of a crisis should be in place and the system of notifying parents about these incidents should be in place. Lastly, the plan should contain response guides for school officials and flipcharts for the educators that allows for rapid response, and wallet cards that can be used by the drivers to evacuate. Another aspect after the crisis management plan is to ensure that they follow the incident command system. A federal Incident Command System (ICS) is an additional category of readiness, and it offers a comprehensive administrative structure, role obligation, and decision-making procedure to arrange for and respond to all sorts of incidents. The ICS is a countrywide documented standard for handling incidents by allocating responsibilities between school administrators and all the emergency responders in the occasion of an active shooting incident in the school. The ICS has numerous responsibilities and function. It should guide the school and ensure that these individuals are present in case of an incident. The first is to ascertain there is an incident commander that responds to answers and manages the entire incident. Secondly, a Public Information officer, who gives out information to the media, community members and families. Thirdly, an operations officer, who manages staff and student care. Additionally, a planning and intelligence officer, which documents the incidents, examines what is happening and comes up with plans for probable further answers and actions. Also, a logistics officer, who manages the staffing and supply needs of the incident. Besides the logistics officer, a safety and liaison officer handles safety at the scene to coordinate with all the agencies that have respondent to the incident respectively. Lastly, a finance and administration officer, who trails event costs for compensation and reporting purposes, must be present. (USDE, 2007). Therefore, the school should follow the guidelines of the ICS effectively. After adhering to the ICS, the procedures to account for the visitors, school personnel and the students as well as those with special needs must be made fast to decide which kind of response will be necessary such as lockdown, shelter-in-place, evacuation, or reverse-evacuation. Furthermore, lockdown is one of the best options in response to an active shooter; however, training on alternative responses to an active shooter incident is also necessary and can help in case the lockdown procedures fail. This include training on how to barricade and lock doors, to neutralize or get away from the intruder, to use the targets location to their benefit, and how to identify the sound of guns, among others. Finally, after training you should ensure crisis kits are accessible fast. These include items like the blankets, first aid supplies, flashlights and batteries, water and food, communication devices, contact data for families and crisis responders, crisis management reference guides, and current student/class roasters. Conclusion Concisely, active shooting is on the rise in schools in the United States, and the school officials should come up with plans that address this issue do as to prevent future occurrences. Schools should be prepared through various processes of mitigation and preparation procedures that should be followed to minimize the casualties or even prevent the incidents from occurring. Therefore, the procedures provided by the United States Department of Education Office of Safe and Drugs-Free Schools should be followed and if not then schools are subject to face the full force of the law. References (ED), D. of E. (2007). Responding To and Recovering From an Active Shooter Incident That Turns Into a Hostage Situation. Lessons Learned From School Crises and Emergencies, Volume 2, Issue 6, 2007. US Department of Education. Perry, R. W., & Lindell, M. K. (2003). Preparedness for emergency response: Guidelines for the emergency planning process. Disasters, 27(4), 336–350. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.0361-3666.2003.00237.x USDE (U.S. Department of Education). (2007). Practical Information on Crisis Planning: A Guide for Schools and Communities. U.S. Department of Education, Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, Washington, D.C. Read More