Preparing United States Schools for International Terrorist Violence - Essay Example

? Preparing US Schools for International Terrorist Violence Number Introduction Terrorism refers to the strategic use of unlawful force and/ or threat of unlawful violence to inspire fear; with this fear being in turn intended for coercion or intimidation of governments, the society or members of the society in the quest for religious, political or/ and ideological goals. Conversely, terrorism may also be seen as the unlawful use of violence and force against persons and/ or property, in order to intimidate or coerce a government, civilians, or a segment of the civilian population as a way of furthering social or political objectives. Of recent past, it has become clear that terrorism has become very dynamic, through the use of unprecedented attacks and targets. To this effect, terrorist activities have begun targeting schools, church buildings and even hospitals. The targeting of schools as was exemplified by the Beslan school hostage crisis (otherwise known as the Beslan massacre) on September 1, 2004, the Columbine High School shooting on April 20, 1999, the Dawson College shooting on September 13, 2006, the 300 schools which were pummeled in terrorist attacks in Turkey, the 1974 Ma’alot School massacre which claimed 21 Israeli children, the recurrent spates of terrorist attacks in Pakistan, Algeria and Nigeria not only underscore the dynamism of terrorism, but also emphasizes the need to prepare schools (students, teachers, administrators and the neighboring society) for terrorist attacks. While the threat of terrorist attacks is always imminent, this threat can be mitigated through related disaster preparedness. Again, the need to address the need to prepare schools against terrorist attacks is underscored by schools being learning grounds for children, yet children cannot be armed against terrorism or physical aggression. Gonzales, Schofield, Herraiz and Domingo (2005) postulate that one of the ways by which schools can be prepared for terrorist threats is teaching students, teachers, administrators and the neighboring society on how to behaviorally respond immediately a terrorist onslaught is launched. Some of the behavioral recommendations that must be taught as the most appropriate and immediate response to a terrorist attack include: remaining calm and being patient; making sure that the advices that the local emergency officials are adhered to; checking for injuries, giving first aids and getting assistance for those who have been seriously injured; listening to the radio or television for instructions and news; checking for damages through an aid of a flashlight and not matches, electrical switches or candles; sniffing for gas leaks and turning off the main gas valve; opening the windows and helping others to get outside, as fast as possible; shutting off other damaged facilities; avoiding the use of the telephone, unless there is a life-threatening emergency; when possible, checking on areas within the struck precincts for the disabled; avoiding roads that may have been barricaded; and evacuating the area. The steps above should be well stratified so that children are separated from higher spheres of responsibilities which can only be dispensed by more mature counterparts such as members of the administration or adults in the neighboring society. Failure to make this distinction may jeopardize children’s lives, when these children take upon themselves, roles that are beyond them. Steps should also be made to acquaint children, teachers and school administration with the school’s community disaster plan. These teachers, students and school administration should also be familiarized with the existing evacuation guidelines. The same group should be made to understand the people they should take directions from during terrorist attacks (with these people being the fire fighters, the police, military personnel, school administrators and the military personnel). There should also be the identification of hospitals and other healthcare providing centers that are nearest to the school. Educational initiatives may also be taken to prepare the aforementioned population for bomb attacks. The need for this is underscored by the fact that although terrorists may use different methods to cause harm and create fear, yet they use bombs more frequently. Accounts by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) show that bombings account for about 70% of all terrorist attacks on American soil. Thus, teachers, students and administrators should be taught to: leave the area of attack immediately; call emergency hotlines, only when the fire, police or EMS has not yet arrived; avoid crowds; keep away from attacked or damaged buildings; adhere to directives issued by authorities; and assist those who have been hurt to either leave the site of attack or seek medical care. The need to introduce adult supervision outside and inside schools before, during and after schools should be addressed. This effort should be graced with a group, test crises preparation guidelines for acts of violence and natural disasters and the dissemination of information on his role during evacuations or lockdowns. The same population should also be taught when to seek medical attention, in the aftermath of a terrorist attack. The population should for instance be taught to seek medical attention upon sustaining problems such as trouble breathing, excessive bleeding, persistent coughs, headache, problem in using any of the limbs, stomach, chest or back pains, dry mouth, blurred vision or/ and burning eyes, vomiting and/ or diarrhea, burning skin or rash, hearing problems, injuries that fail to improve between 24 and 48 hours; and injuries which increase redness, swelling and pain. There are also structural measures which must be put in place to safeguard schools from graver vulnerability to a terrorist onslaught, as shall be seen forthwith. First, it is necessary to plan schools in a way that will make handling of emergency situations more viable and manageable. Planning the school site may portend the creation of staging areas, reunification sites and command posts. While these efforts may not involve the obvious designation of these sites (for security measures), school administrations may enjoy the prerogatives to declare specific venues for these purposes, during times of emergency. There is also the need to make measures which would deter the occurrence of terrorist onslaughts in schools, in the first place. One of the measures that can be taken to the effect of the above is devolving security services to the lowest levels of power possible. So far, the US is a step ahead in this effort. Subsequently, there should be the training of the devolved security agents so as to enhance alertness, effective visibility and consciousness. Thus, there is need to have county police officers trained and equipped to a high standard, and to make their capabilities known (albeit the details of these security agencies’ response techniques should also remain classified). These measures will help strengthen deterrence, since the potential attacker will be being shown that he may not succeed in killing or holding at ransom, innocent targets in any given location. It may also be important to have copies of a school’s on-site emergency plans for children being distributed at designated points. This measure will help students re-establish themselves with these security measures. Parents may also read these safety bulletins that their children may have picked and make further contributions, towards the same efforts. Closely related to the above proposition is the strengthening and further devolvement of the Rapid Deployment team. This is to the effect that the Rapid Deployment team should be trained to arrive at the scene of the terrorist attack, to attack immediately, with maximum force and with no intention of pulling back or ceding ground to the attackers. This should be done to stunt chances for the attacker to harm or jeopardize more innocent children. In a closely related wavelength, there may also be the hardening of the targets with strong security checkpoints and even random security patrols. This should be accompanied with drill lockdown procedures, so as to remove easy targets from potential killer zones. The drill and lock-down procedures may include the means of locking doors to areas of refuge. This should also be accompanied with the need to avoid the penchant for evacuating people into an area that has not yet been proven safe from potential bombs and snipers. This security measure will help greatly hamper the progress of a terrorist, before law enforcement agencies are deployed for rescue operations. According to Glotzer, Psoter and Rekow (2004), there should also be, initiatives to have US school management have their security personnel working with the aforementioned Rapid Deployment unit. School security personnel must be equipped with the local Rapid Deployment unit’s emergency contacts. Given that in most instances, the highest chance available for saving lives comes in the form of an instant response by on-scene personnel or the first arriving police officer, there is need to further train school security personnel in matters of combat, use of firearms, safety evacuation and the detection of a terrorist threat. In relation to the foregoing, it may be important to have the school security personnel equipped with firearm. The same will have to be trained on the use of firearms, so as to heighten the chances for thwarting, delaying and frustrating a terrorist attack. Some nevertheless see the need to complement the presence of the school security personnel with that of the School Resource Officer (SRO). This will help protect the school’s most valuable property- the school children. The SROs’ presence is important since SROs are trained to be intelligent, inquisitive, alert, congenial and ready to get into combat mode fast. Experts such as Gonzales, Schofield, Herraiz and Domingo (2005) posit that it is best to train and dispatch these SROs to respond effectively to a terrorist threat as a two-officer team, so as to make the joining up with the first arriving patrol police officer and school security personnel becomes more robust. As has already been stated, Rowley (2006) makes the proposition that there should also be the also measures being made to strengthen detection. Just like detectives, the school security personnel should be trained to be vigilant and able to read clues. The viability of this recommendation is based on the fact that every terrorist or students or school attacker seldom strikes without carrying out in-depth reconnaissance. To this end, the potential terrorist may make an analysis the availability of egress and ingress points; study the school site’s security preparedness; and sketch and/ or photograph the area. This may necessitate the need to train the security personnel on how to increase the effectiveness of their surveillance inside and around the school’s precincts. The same proposition above may necessitate the need to install surveillance cameras or even video recorders, so as to enhance monitoring of movements within the school precincts. This will not only help deter terrorist plans from being actualized, but the same will also help at the investigation stages. The same will also require the need to watch out for an increase in anonymous e-mail threats and anonymous phone calls; and critically studying the aforementioned security drills. Conversely, installing safety and emergency-handling infrastructure can go a long way in scaling down the ravages of a terrorist attack. There should be measures to ensure that every school is equipped with fire extinguishers, smoke alarms, fire sprinklers and fire exits. Preparing schools for a terrorist attack may also incorporate proper facilities management. Some of the measures which must apply herein include: clear definition of school’s perimeter with gates, signage and fences; use of security technology for monitoring purposes in areas around the school; reduction of entry points to one gateway so as to enable sighting of visitors, the verification of the identity of the vendors, strangers and service personnel; improvement of procedures for evening building access and after-school access; locking out windows at the end of the day; securing access to roofs and roof hatches; preventing access to heating, ventilation, utility rooms, boiler rooms, air conditioning systems, cleaning product and chemical storage; creating strategies to help block access to sensitive data stored in school computers; keeping school transport facilities and security up-to-date; making plans for safe relocation of students with the advisory input of the police, HAZMAT, emergency management officials and the local fire department. There should also be efforts to complement the presence of the school’s infrastructure with emergency supplies. These emergency supplies should include a reasonable number of medical supplies and emergency health kits such as first aid kits, student packs and school bus first aid kits; functioning communication devices (this effort should be followed up with the inclusion of cell phones, two-way radio units, related batteries, fire alarm systems and public address systems); a 3-day stock of medication for students who may be in need of medication at the school (this may include school emergency, medical equipment such as the Automated External Defibrillators [AEDs]; making shelter-in-place kits part of the school plan and infrastructure; making enough food, water and other forms of supplies available. Glotzer, Psoter and Rekow (2004) are poignant that the government and nongovernmental organizations should also come together to strengthen and modify the operations of school safety organizations. This may involve: having these organizations receive greater funding; training members of these organizations on first aid; subjecting members of these school safety to security drills; and awarding members of these caucuses with recognizable certificates of membership, certificates of attainment, trophies and other privileges, as a way of motivating students to engage these pursuits, in order to further and deeper inculcate consciousness on security matters among students. Some of these school safety organizations are FEMA for KIDS Homepage, National School Safety and Security Services, National School Safety Center, Center for the Prevention and Study of Violence, National Alliance for Safe Schools, National Resource Center for Safe Schools, National Association of School Safety and Law Enforcement Officials, National School Safety and Security Services, Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL) and the National Mental Health and Education Center for Children and Families. These organizations are important in the sense that they help children prepare for disaster physically, psychologically and logistically. All these are facets that are needed to have an all-rounder student. All-rounded students have higher chances to defend themselves during times of crises. It may also be helpful, planning a development and review checklist. Without this measure, all the aforementioned efforts will start to wane in strength and effectiveness due to complacency and failure of maintenance. The stakeholders must to this end begin with a map which details on how to develop the safety plan. Through this measure, it will become easier for the planners to determine the kind of information that needs developing, the elements that have to be included in the plan, the training resources that one has to account for, prior to the launching of the plan into a full-fledged development. The success that Pennsylvania Department of Education and the Bureau of Community and Student Service is credited to the helpful guide and development plan. Just as is the case with the Pennsylvanian Department of Education, there should be a Department's Crisis Response Plan Checklist which is to help identify all the elements of a school which may be considered when drawing the school safety and emergency response plan. Rowley (2006) argues that, to make the effort above more manageable, the review and plan development checklist should include four important stages: pre-planning (includes information gathering, gathering the needed training and funding resources, and identifying key internal and external people), prevention (reviews elements that are to be involved in planning, data collection, preparation, training and networking), intervention (includes implementation and communication at the time of crises), and postvention (takes care of aftercare, reviewing, updating and amending the previously laid down plan). Very importantly, the US criminal justice system remains a commendable and strong bulwark against terrorist attacks of any fashion in the American soil. This is because, all terrorist attacks that have been exacted in the US have had their executers and plotters apprehended, investigated, subjected to a trial before a court of law and made subject to criminal sentencing. The same exaction of justice also includes the terrorist also being killed in the process of being apprehended. The only exception to this observation is an instance whereby executors of terrorist attacks commit suicide, as was exemplified in the September 11 2001 Attacks and the Columbine High School massacre in 1999. The importance of having a fully functioning criminal justice system is that it serves as a strong deterrence to more lawless acts and terrorist attacks. The need to subdue terrorists to full criminal justice systems and court trials is further underscored by the fact that criminal justice systems provide retribution. Through retribution, the pressure within the bereaved (those whose children have been killed in a terrorist attack) to take the law into their own hands in acts of vengeance is nullified. The government can also go to a greater length by making legislation which will ensure that laws are specific on terrorism, particularly, terrorist attacks on schools. That terrorist attacks on schools mainly target the underage (students) and is done knowingly provides strong ground for the very act to be placed in its own category, and to have its own sentence. To this end, it will be helpful to place stiffer penalties on acts of terrorism which target schools. Conclusion The efforts above must include the efforts of everyone in the US- the federal state, the state departments of education, local emergency management agencies, consultants, publishers, school administration, parents, teachers and students. These groups must work together to provide guidelines for crafting the roadmaps and developing plans for school safety. The need to have every person participate at the individual level and to expend resources of a community is underscored by the fact that every school needs to have an individually crafted plan to help address specific needs and other natural disasters and emergency crises. The state and local agencies can only go to an extent of providing a school with guidance and resources to help make decisions on crisis response plan development and terrorism preparedness. However, it takes the input of the entire community to draw a disaster and crises response plan specific enough to address the uniqueness of a school’s terrain, infrastructure, neighborhood and capacity. References Glotzer, D. L., Psoter, W. J. & Rekow, E. D. (2004). “Preparing for a Terrorist Event: A Scenario-Driven Approach.” The New York State Dental Journal, 70 (6), 26. Gonzales, A., Schofield, B. R., Herraiz, S. & Domingo, S. (2005). “Assessing and Managing the Terrorism Threat: New Realities: Law Enforcement ion the Post-9/11 Era.” Bureau of Justice Assistance, 2 (3), 67. Rowley, C. K. (2006). “Terrorist Attacks on Western Civilization.” International Security & Counterterrorism Reference Center, 128 (2); 1-6. Read More