The following statement may be attributed to Mo Canady, Executive Director, National Association of School Resource Officers.
NASRO greatly appreciates the work of the U.S. Department of Justice and in particular, the Department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services for the extensive work involved in creating a valuable and important report on the response to the Robb Elementary School mass shooting.
I agree with the recommendations in that report, especially that the first responding officers at an active shooter incident must go directly toward the threat and eliminate it. They must be prepared to approach the threat and breach or enter a room using whatever tools they have, even if armed only with a standard-issue handgun.
This has been law enforcement best practice for more than two decades, so I was astounded and grieved to learn that a school district police chief, who one can reasonably expect to know better, did not lead officers to implement it.
We also agree that a clear command structure is essential. For decades, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has provided training in the Incident Command System, which establishes procedures that any public safety organization, including fire, emergency medical and law enforcement, should follow. I am greatly disappointed that leaders of the law enforcement response to Robb Elementary School did not quickly implement Incident Command System procedures to assure an effective, coordinated response.
We agree that appropriate training is essential. NASRO offers training courses around the nation that incorporate most, if not all the response recommendations in the DOJ report.
NASRO has for a long time espoused the critical importance of classroom doors that can be quickly and easily locked from the inside. Too many school buildings in the United States have classroom doors that can only be locked from the hallway side with a key and too often that key isn’t even available to teachers in the classrooms, especially substitute teachers. In addition, key systems should be configured to enable every school-based police officer in a school district to easily carry on their person at all times keys that will open any door in any district building. The number of doors in a typical school building makes implementing these recommendations expensive but it is a necessary expense.
The incidents of the recent past demonstrate that no community is immune to such violence. NASRO hopes that implementation of the DOJ’s recommendations will help prevent future losses of life in our nation’s schools.