Active Violence: Part 1

Dan McGee, M.P.A, B.A Social and Criminal Justice
PATROL SYSTEMS LLC
October 5, 2015

So here we are again. I certainly do not mean to sound ho-hum, but I have a hard time finding my scream at this point. Not because I am not mad. Not because I have no voice at all. It is because we (the citizens of the U.S.) have not learned one darn thing. I am frustrated with us!

I became a certified School Resource Officer in 2002, the first in our county. I began studying school violence at that time because I had strong concerns. I had not forgotten tragedies like Columbine (1999), Eugene, OR (1198) and Stamps, AR (1997). As a matter of fact in my research I located so many more incidents of active violence on school property that I was utterly shocked we had not locked schools down to near jail procedures at this point.

How many of you remember Bath Twp. MI in 1927? Well probably none of you, but it happened. And it was horrible. What about Swarthmore, PA in 1955? Houston, TX 1959? Sure, by now you may have heard of Charles Whitman and the Texas Tower Shooting in Austin, 1966. But what about Grand Rapids, MN (1966), Brampton, Ont., CA (1975), Los Angeles, CA (1984), Lewistown, MT (1986)? You see there are so many more incidents in the past that people haven’t even heard of because our media was paper driven at the time. Now, with huge cable news on 24-7 we hear about it as it is happening and for weeks afterwards. Yet, we've made little use of the lessons of the past. 

The U.S. Secret Service (along with others) conducted the Safe Schools Initiative (2002) where they studied school violence. One of the key findings was a no finding at all. You say what? It did not shock me that they could not build a profile of a shooter, therefore giving law enforcement little to go on. For Pete’s sake, most of these are school kids committing these crimes. They are not carrying signs around saying they are mad and going to commit violence. But surely the study gave us something? It did, if you read it and implemented it, but I saw no one react and act on it. Still, school officials treat kids like kids. I mean they don’t believe that the hostile comments they make are true. They don’t evaluate security for security sake, they have to manage a school. Teach kids, pass proficiency tests, etc. I don’t blame the schools. I blame the morons who have (and are still) failing their communities because they are primarily interested in self-preservation.

Speed forward to 2012 and Newtown, CT. Here came a major wave of concern as a known crazy takes weapons into an elementary school killing 20 kids. What was the immediate concerns of many? We need to make schools gun-free zones. Or, lets arm everyone. Or, let’s take guns away from people who are not attached to violence at all. My favorite were the state governments. Let’s revamp our laws by using commissions to study school violence and give us recommendations (and we will use private companies to help us author lawful language). I am sure none of the private people capitalized off helping write these recommendations. Oh wait, um er, let’s just move past that…

The state of Ohio revised how schools look at violence by adding additional requirements for violence drills, including mandating at least one lockdown and one evacuation, along with a third drill.  And let me be clear, the State of Ohio (including the Attorney General) did NOT specific any specific company to obtain training from (that’s not only a good thing, that is the ethical thing). Yet, many believe the Attorney General mandated a specific company and this company has die-hard followers who have zero knowledge, study, or command of leadership and tactics, let alone school violence. In fact, I have a local elected official using this fear to capitalize so no one notices his failing leadership. I have seen officers become regurgitating fools because they are not looking at school violence trying to prevent it, they are looking to keep their jobs and be important. (Side note: If you are doing things just to get noticed, instead of doing things simply because they are the right things, then you are a bum…) Yet, with all of the studying of these incidents no one acted on prevention. I even was recently ridiculed because I believe we have done the minimum when it comes to seeking out prevention methods. People running their lips in the press to get noticed, not because they actually know. Basically it is all reactionary. And in many cases extreme reactions without little thought. I mean, I see it as greedy people capitalizing on the fear of these incidents and as long as they are spewing verbiage that was different than the past, people are buying it!

McGee believes there little control in
active violence situations, even when prepared.
And many officials are not willing to practice true security.
He believes kids and parents are being fooled into buying
snake oil when it comes to school violence. (Photo from Philly.com)                      


                                                                                    

This week we saw two major things come to head. One was another tragedy at a community college in Oregon. Another was a thwarted plot in California. And, I can hear it now. “See, see, we need to do this, or we need to do that”. Ask yourselves when you hear the fools shout from their rooftops, how much is about preventing these attacks versus extreme rhetoric and knee-jerk reactions? Let’s run here or take guns away from everyone! Right? I mean I can already hear some local people running off at the mouth, like their one course attended and no experience whatsoever makes them intelligent on the subject.

Over the next several blogs I am going to talk about school violence, the methods being used to combat it and where I think we should go. I am going to talk about lockdowns versus evacuations, security, guns on campuses, and how we can start to tackle true prevention methods. There is more we can do, different things we can do, and much snake oil to return to their sellers….

Now? More rhetoric. More take guns away. More lets run to Wal-mart. So here we go again. Except this time, let’s not accept reaction and poor ideas. Let’s not accept inexperienced dolts to lead us to what? Let’s not accept that we spend more money on school activities than security each year. Keep in mind I will never say we can fully prevent attacks.  What I will say is we can do things to make them harder to accomplish. We have prime examples of hardened targets in the U.S. and while crazies still attempt to attack them, it is too hard most of the time to accomplish the goal. The problem is that we can only learn from the past on these incidents (well some can learn, others just try to keep their jobs…) And we will always be behind because we have to deal with attacks and plans as they develop. So, let’s actually learn something and make some changes, and in future articles I am going give you my thoughts.   

Until then, take a breath. Knee-jerk reactions have never done any good. Sure I think we need to do something quick, but a bandage isn’t surgery. This issue requires an MRI and long-term care. School violence has been going on for hundreds of years. We do not have to speed forward just to say we did something. We need to thoughtfully plow forward ensuring what we do is right…

God Bless,

Dan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel McGee holds a Master in Public Administration, a B.A. in Social and Criminal Justice, an A.A.S. in Law Enforcement, and has served the public for almost 20 years as a police officer. He holds certifications in various topics including as a National Tactical Officer Association Active Shooter Instructor, Certified School Resource Officer, an Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy Instructor, Defensive Tactics and Firearms Instruction, as many more. He is a member of the National Rifle Association (Lifetime), International Association of Chiefs of Police, National Defense Academy. He is a board member for the Senior Citizen Glenview Apartments and is the spokesperson for the Williams County Area Crime Stoppers. He is an author and President of P.A.T.R.O.L. Systems LLC.