02/06/2022
The folllwing was written by a colleague of mine, we both served in the ATF. Now I don’t agree with him completely, but this is actually a place to start. We need to find common ground to protect our childern. As parents we must do something, God knows our politicians won’t. The following is from Rick Vasquez:
 Politicians and endless rhetoric will not save a single child. If you have children I recommend you approach the school and offer a community watch program. If every parent volunteers just one day of a school year, that is a significant factor to prevent a person entering the school. I put together a plan a few years ago and am posting it now. You can share, take credit or plagiarize, as long as it helps.
Crisis Management Consulting
Rick Vasquez
Opinion Paper School Security
There have been a series of shootings in schools recently which have led to a cry for more security at our schools to protect the children and employees. Many school districts do not have funding while others are implementing state of the art programs. Every school system should have the means to provide safety to their students. Active Crisis Consulting can provide the necessary training and develop protocols to fit any size school.
This modern threat requires a new type of security that is developed specifically for the mission of protecting schools. Of course, what is on everyone’s mind is the security and safety of our children. Security procedures specifically for a school environment must be developed to protect not only the children but the teachers that will implement these procedures. One of the first aspects of developing training is understanding “What the training is for?” and “Why is training required?”
Protecting our children against fi****ms and any violence in school is the objective. Unfortunately, the firearm is not the problem, but the violence perpetrated by the shooter. There are multiple reasons that cause a person to detach from society. It isn’t always simple. It could be mental illness, not fitting in, drugs, social media, bullying, etc. There are generally “signs” projected by behavior, conversations and/or social media. Your first objective, therefore, is to look for signs of potential violence in students.
School shootings were not something that happened in school for my generation. In my generation, teenagers could carry guns to school in their vehicles, so they could hunt after school, and there was never a whisper of students killing students. As a matter of fact, the violence was very one dimensional; one person killed another person for whatever reason but there were not collateral murders. Currently, young people live off social media, a lack of face-to-face interactions, and violent video games. Acting out of fantasies or copycatting is not going to stop, and schools must implement security processes. Plans must be based on the actions of the current generation.
Arming teachers is not the priority in stopping school shootings. Arming teachers is one method to stop a student who has begun killing other students. If you want to prevent school shootings, you must stop the reason. As in in military or law enforcement operations, you must develop intelligence. After looking for the source of the issue, community intelligence should be your priority.
This is where the importance of community intelligence plays a key role. Every citizen in your community is brought into the solution. The community becomes your eyes and ears and relays this information to the school, and, if necessary, law enforcement is notified. What ever happened to the neighborhood watch model? Parents could be asked to volunteer to be a foot or driving patrol of their schools. Some can do more than others and many already have pertinent skills to this mission. Also, who has more invested in the safety of a school than the parents.
Start with an intelligence model, then develop your reactionary drills. If you decide to arm teachers, this program should be far down on your list of objectives. When you get to fi****ms you must, I will write it twice, you must, develop a comprehensive program. Having teachers go to a range and shoot a handgun for a few hours is not a training program. That is a disaster waiting to happen.
Active Crisis Consulting has developed a 10-point guide. These 10 objectives cover areas such as intelligence, first aid, reactionary drills, and yes, the use of fi****ms. These 10 objectives are broad and can be expanded to cover all areas that should be considered when developing a school security plan. Our training cadre is comprised of special agents of Diplomatic Security Service, the Bureau of ATFE, and former Marines with over 30 years’ experience in security processes both offensive and defensive. All staff members are proficient in reactionary training and development of training for a variety of situations. We have facilities to conduct training or we can travel to the school location and provide training.
We are not the only source of training available, there are other good programs available. However, do something as shootings will occur again.
If you have questions, feel free to contact me at: rick@rickvasquezfi****ms.com
Or by phone at: 540 535 6633.
Attachments:
Active Crisis Consulting Ten-Point Guide.
Each of these objectives is a guide. You may utilize all or a few. Members of Active Crisis Consulting will assist you in selecting the best protocol for your environment and will train you in these objectives.
1. Community Intelligence:
• Be aware of issues in the school
• Be aware of troubled students
• Provide a system that provides assistance to students that are in need
• Provide a system that gives students the confidence to notify officials of troubled students
2. Project safe neighborhood:
• Volunteer parents to be extra eyes around the school grounds equipped with radio
• Volunteer parents to assist with checking in students as they enter school
3. Awareness
• Recognizing threats
• Developing intelligence sources
• Who welcomes unannounced guests?
4. Approach to the school
• Size of the road, one or two lanes
• Direct, or type of access
• Dead end or through way
• Barricades
• Parking lot
• Hiding places
5. Communications
• Signals that indicate the type of emergency
• Signals that indicate the direction of the threat
• Radio?
• Phones?
• Alarms
6. Understanding your students
• Who are they?
• Develop a program to address students that come from dysfunctional situations
• What types of environments do they come from?
7. First aid
• Is any teacher trained in life saving techniques?
• First aid training and TRAUMA training
8. School structure
• Types of doors
• Windows
• Types of locks
• Knowledge of the school layout
9. Escape plan
• Other structures in the area
• Local law enforcement
• Where do you run
• Where do you hide
• Distances to other structures
• Makeup of the building
• Safe haven
10. Defensive plan
• Fighting back
• Types of weapons
• Training
• Drill sheets for all emergency situations
Once training is provided you must take it upon yourself to upkeep your training and knowledge.
