Massive drill directed at school safety PDF Print E-mail Written by Joe Awad Wednesday, July 10, 2013 6:37 PM If you spot a bunch of cops, SWAT dudes, firefighters, paramedics, Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy sweeping in on Harrison High School this week, don’t freak out. It’s a drill! But not just any drill. It’s a drill to make students in the Southwest Local School District safer than ever before. In light of the 26 shooting murders at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut last December, and student threats in the SWLSD this past spring, the city of Harrison, in conjunction with the school district, will conduct a full-bore drill this week that includes more life-threatening situations than many in the public can imagine. Two things. Don’t ask “when” if you read this story before the drill, and stay the heck away from the action. Those are the explicit conditions of Harrison Police Chief Chuck Lindsey for your safety and to ensure the best results. City officials decided shortly after Sandy Hook that a drill was necessary, and are pleased Southwest officials agreed because the district previously was not interested in safety drills in conjunction with law enforcement, according to Lindsey. The horrific murder of 20 fourth-graders and six teachers, however, changed the landscape, and Southwest instituted several safety measures including buzzer-activated doors, before the end of the school year. Lindsey and Superintendent Chris Brown met several times this past school year to establish the details of the drill. “That’s a big part of this, realizing that the Southwest School District has done a great job of hardening the ability of people getting in and out of their buildings,” said Lindsey. The drill will last eight hours, including SWAT Team participation and evaluations. Most of the city’s direct action, however, occurs in the first four hours from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., he said. “We are talking about shots fired, IEDs (Improvised Exploding Devices). We are talking about extricating wounded people; not extricating those who are visibly dead. We are talking about hostage verification, where you have negotiators talking,” said Lindsey. The goal is realism, there is no provision to artificially speed up the process. For instance, if an IED is discovered, police and everybody else must stop entry, back out, and find a way around it, he explained. “There will be multiple fishline and clothesline booby traps set up in doorways. We do this every year at different schools in Hamilton County; looking at past incidences and copying their devices. ... You always get SWAT guys killed, you get police officers killed. It’s very, very good training,” said Lindsey, who is in charge of the county’s SWAT Team. The drill will not cost the city overtime because of the way the program is constructed, he said.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Jul 2013 16:18:36 +0000
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