It is disturbing that the US Department of Justice's critical incident review of the 2022 Robb Elementary School massacre in Uvalde, Texas noted that officers did not have keys available to access the classroom and confront the gunman. That's part of what NASRO executive director Mo Canady told Police Magazine. Canady told senior editor Wayne Parham that there should never be an excuse for not having keys to get into a classroom.
Canady also told Parham that ballistic shields “can be effective in barricaded suspects situations if we're making a slow and deliberate type entry. But an active shooter situation is not a slow and deliberate type of entry.” Rather than shields, Canady would rather see the money spent elsewhere, such as making sure schools have keycard access, plus making sure officers have access cards.
The retired SRO and SRO supervisor also said that securing school perimeters, such as keeping exterior doors locked, goes a long way in preventing shootings, but doing so provides no guarantee. “I can go to just about any school in America, knock on the door, smile enough, and convince a student to open the door for me and let me in," Canady told Police Magazine. "We got to think about where the weak points really are.”