School Security Comes First.

"ImmoralMinority" (araimondo) 04/21/2018 at 19:44 • Filed to: None

0

3

Chihuahua buffer image for my rant.

My son had a jazz band performance yesterday.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

He does not attend this school, but the performance was there. He came home badly shaken and scared. The school went to full lockdown, and he was rattled by SWAT officers with machine guns clearing the school. They were getting ready to barricade the band room door with the grand piano when the all clear came.

One of the saddest things was that my son kept talking about how this school’s lockdown procedure was efficient and fast, while a recent active shooter drill at his school was a complete clusterfuck. I cannot believe I am having these conversations with my kids.

I am not a big Second Amendment guy, or big on gun control. I don’t own guns, but I have plenty of friends who do. I understand why people want to own them and I am ok with it.

But I just got back from a vacation in Europe, and had occasion to experience security as I passed through airports in various countries. Every museum and historical site had security screening.

The gun debate will not be resolved during my kids’ time in school. Until we figure that one out, I want my kids’ schools to be at least as safe as a fucking airport. I want tall fences, limited points of ingress and egress, metal detectors, x-ray machines, all that shit. Sorry Parkwood kids, you lost me when you opposed clear backpacks. That is a smart idea.

I have to go through airport type security in courthouses, federal buildings, and even most high-rise office buildings in SF (due to a famous workplace shooting ar a law firm). Schools are more important than all of these combined, and while we are fighting over the hard issues, let’s do the easy thing and treat them like other targeted locations by enhancing security and screening.

Figure out the rest later. Secure the schools now.

DipodomysDeserti > ImmoralMinority 04/21/2018 at 20:18

5

Clear backpacks? I can carry a pistol and over 100 rounds of ammo in my waistband and pockets. Clear backpacks won’t do shit for school security. And yeah, going through airport security is such a great experience. I would really like it if my children could experience that every day of their lives. Should do wonders for their psyche. Maybe just have them wear jumpsuits so you can’t hide anything in their pockets or waistbands.

I don’t want my kids to live in a police state. European, Australian and Canadian schools aren’t set up like prisons amd somehow they manage to not have a mass shooting every other week. I don’t want my kid to be X rayed every day just so some yokel can buy an AR15 with less hassle.

Figure out the rest later?! Columbine happened nineteen goddamn years ago.

I’m sorry you’re som had to go through that. Friday was the anniversary of when a high school teammate of mine was shot to death in a mass shooting. It’s a sickening feeling.

Verdog ~ manual Bro, Bro - HellHawk Equipped > ImmoralMinority 04/21/2018 at 20:33

1

I am a Physical Security Professional. I can see what you say and mean.

I have to think that the SKY IS FALLING, but can only implement based on my C-Suite.

I honestly agree with Skychismo... Please let my daughter live free. Let’s solve this another way.

I just returned from they EU also. GDRP will change a lot of what you saw. This is a true threat to security.

FLmanisback > ImmoralMinority 04/22/2018 at 04:36

1

I’m late to this (was coaching 13 year olds in soccer all day) but I have a couple of comments. I did twelve years of school design in Florida. In the late 90s there was a push for CPTED to influence school design (post columbine). It uses the design of the school as a crime deterrent. As IM opines, it statististically resulted in safer schools. There were two issues. For one, the schools started trending to prisons in look and feel. For two, existing schools, especially in warm climates, are open corridor, open campuses with many entry points. Could you add fences, yes, but when it was considered, the prison comparisons were a criticism, as was the scope. Can a one mile fence perimeter sufficiently stop/impede a shooter in enough time to get the resource officer to the scene?

So now, my wife teaches high school and I have a daughter in 8th grade. I do very little school design in my current position, but if I did, I would push the security agenda. There’s simply many more people, more access to the tools that hurt people, and more social media/social peer pressure/information access to bad influences thanks the the internet of things. Technology has improved. A camera network could be deployed inexpensively on a perimeter fence, and monitoring routines can alert the resource officer for fence movement.

Don’t get me started about arming teachers. Being married to one and knowing plenty of them, probably not a great solution. They just aren’t going to shoot someone, even in defense. The high school where my wife teaches services an Air Force base, and is in a community with decent access to hunting. A lot of her students are gun owners, or at least gun families. So, disarming the general public (unfortunately in my opinion), isn’t going to happen any time soon. Until it happens, IM is right, to keep people safe, look to threat detection through school design. Take a peek at CPTED.