Greetings, I’m a 15 year military veteran of 2 branches, I’m writing today in regards to insufficient school security, which has failed to stop hundreds of mass shootings, and is clearly a top threat to national security, everything that has been done to resolve this issue has failed. However through very careful and delicate planning, a plan to fix this issue has been created, this plan is not just for current schools, but for how future schools should be designed to provide the best protection against external and internal threats. I’m on a crusade to introduce my security plan to all states in order to bring an extremely advanced security design to reality, or at minimum to inspire new ideas in order to aid the areas most open to an attack.

 

 

 

The security plan consist of several defensive lines:

 

1-Security Entry Authorization System.

Have a small building separate from the main building to obtain entry keycards, entry authorization cards, documents, and visiting passes to prevent visitors with no visitor’s pass from entering the main building. 

 

For students and staff to obtain their first entry card or keycard, they must first produce a form of identification and proof of enrollment or employment in that specific school, and have their information and photo entered into the school’s database. To replace a lost or stolen entry card or keycard, the student or staff member’s name and photo will be searched in the school’s database.

 

For contractors to obtain a visitor’s entry card, they must produce a form of identification, reason for requesting a visitor’s entry card, proof of employment to their contractor company, and duration of their visit, such as 1 day, 3 days, one week, one month, etc.

 

For visitors to obtain a visitor’s entry card, they must produce a form of identification, reason for requesting a visitor’s entry card, and duration of their visit, such as 1 day, 3 days, one week, one month, etc.

 

Students and permanent staff must have both a keycard AND entry authorization card to enter through the security gate and main building entrance, the keycard and entry card are different, and are separated into 2 different cards for the purpose that if an intruder wishes to enter through the security gate and building entrance unlawfully, he will need both cards to enter.  Permanent staff must show entry card and 2nd form of iD that matches the entry card’s information to enter through the building’s entrance. Entry authorization cards for students and staff members should contain the following criteria:

 

Photo, full name, school’s name and logo. 

 

A color for the background on the front that is randomly selected from one of 10 basic colors at the start of every semester. With this feature, the entry card will continually change it’s background color every few months, allowing security to rapidly notice an invalid entry card, if the card’s background color is not current, then the card is not valid for entry.

 

A large font number from 1 to 10 that is applied on the center of the card, and is specifically assigned to one of the 10 basic colors used in the entry card’s background on the front.  With this feature for example, the number 1 will always be applied along with the black colored background, 2 will always be applied along with the white colored background, and so on, whenever the background color of the entry card is black, the large font number 1 must always appear in the center of the card, 2 must always appear for white, 3 must always appear for yellow, and so on. If the card’s background is black, but the number is 3, then the card is not valid for entry.

 

A randomly selected basic color for the large font number at the start of every semester. With this feature, the color of the large font number will change at the start of every semester, even if the same number is used back to back, the color of that same number will not be the same back to back, if the number’s color is not current, then the card is not valid for entry.

 

A randomly selected basic color for the background on the back of the entry card. With this feature, the entry card will continually change it’s background color on the back of the card every semester, allowing security to rapidly notice an invalid entry card if the color on the card’s back is different from the color randomly selected for that semester , if the card’s color on the back is not current, then the card is not valid for entry. 

 

The state seal. If the back of the entry card does not have the state seal of the state in which the building which you are trying to enter is located, then the card is not valid for entry.

 

A large colored circle to the left of the card’s iD photo. The purpose of this feature is for security to quickly become aware if the color of the circle matches the color of the back of the card. If the circle’s color doesn’t match the color on the back of the card, then the card is not valid for entry. 

 

Expiration date. The entry card expires at the end of every semester, If the entry card has an expired date, then the card is not valid for entry.

 

The purpose of the listed security features is for allowing security with a mere glance to quickly identity an intruder attempting to enter through the security gate by method of using a stolen, formerly lost, or duplicated entry card. The card must be worn around the neck to be easily seen by security upon arriving at the main gate and/or main building entrance, if a person’s card is not visible, the person trying to enter may be denied entry until a valid entry card is produced. The entry card holder may remove the entry card after successfully passing through all gate and building entrance security zones, the entry card must be worn whenever a person is no longer inside the main building, if the person does not wear an entry card outside of the main building, that person will be asked by security to present an entry card. When inside the building, the person should have the entry card on their person in the random chance of being asked to produce one in the chance of a security check.

 

Visitor and contractor entry cards and procedures:

 

Visitor and contractor entry cards will be mostly identical to student and permanent staff entry cards, with the exception that they will not have a photo, only the visitor’s full name, will not have the state seal on the back, only the word VISITOR in large bold letters, and will have a much shorter expiration date, which will only remain valid for the duration of the visitor’s or contractor’s business with the school, frequent visitors and contractors will be given an entry card that expires at the same time as permanent personnel. When visitors and contractors arrive at the security gate or entrance, they will be asked to produce an entry card, show the front , and show the back of the entry card to ensure that the color of the back of the card is current, and to ensure that the word VISITOR is visible. The visitor or contractor must also show a 2nd form of iD to ensure that the issued entry card belongs to the person presenting it. After successful validation has been completed, the visitor or contractor will walk through the weapon detector, and be let in by security. Visitors and contractors will NOT be given a keycard for entry. If a visitor or contractor enters the main building, a security guard or staff member must also escort the visitor throughout the building, escorts do not apply on days with a heavy concentration of visitors such as annual parent teacher meetings and special events. Show of visitor cards are still applicable to everyone on every occasion before entry.

 

If a student or school staff member looses their current keycard, and requests a new keycard, the previously issued keycard must become deactivated for the reason that if a previously issued keycard is obtained by an outside party, the schools security could be compromised. Keycards of students who are transferring to a different school or graduating must also have their keycard deactivated. No more than one keycard should be assigned to each person at a time, no spares, and will only receive another keycard if their current keycard becomes lost or doesn’t function.

 

Only Permanent staff and security personnel are to be given a full explanation of the entry card’s security features.

 

2-Security Police Protection System.

Have police with flashing lights near the school’s gate during student arrival and departing times.

 

3-Security Wall System.

Have a walled perimeter around school grounds consisting of several defensive layers in the following order starting from the outside, and moving inward. 

 

Extra thick bollards linked together by upper, middle, and lower chains, each bollard 4ft apart around the entire property. 

 

A sidewalk with a grouping of bollards on each of the sidewalk’s pedestrian entry points with just a big enough gap between each bollard, only so a person can fit through, each bollard grouping consisting of 3 rows of bollards, with the middle row being linked together with a top and middle chain. The chains are to prevent small vehicles such as motorcycles from entering into the sidewalk.

 

A 15ft high anti climb mini mesh chain link fence with slanted fence extension posts on top, with mini mesh chain link fencing across the extension posts, next, a 10ft deep trench, measuring 25ft from the 15ft fence to a curved wall that is inside the trench, the curved wall measuring 10ft high, curving at 45 degrees towards the 15ft fence, with a 45 degree inclined ledge above it, next, above the curved wall, and flush with the 45 degree inclined ledge, a 15ft high blast wall with slanted fence conversion brackets on top, with mini mesh chain link fencing across the conversion brackets.

 

4-Security Gate System.

The security wall will have a security gate, it consists of an indoor vehicle bay that is 70 ft long, has a 15 ft high entryway, 15 ft wide. It will have an entrance for vehicles that can be opened by raising a bullet resistant shutter door, it will also have an exit point on the opposite end of the bay that can be opened by raising a bullet resistant shutter door to allow vehicles to enter into school property. This bay will have 2 compartments separated by an extra thick brick wall, the first compartment is where vehicles transit through, the 2nd compartment is where the bay’s security room for security personnel will be located, the vehicle entry bay will have 2 security cameras that will be monitored from within the bay’s security room, the 1st camera will be placed into the ground just inside the entrance to detect threats under the vehicle, the 2nd camera will be placed on the ceiling just before the 2nd shutter door to detect any threats on top and on the sides of the vehicle. Both shutter doors should have an anti ramming device, the 1st anti ramming device is located outside of the vehicle bay, in front of the 1st shutter door which allows entry into the vehicle bay, the 2nd anti ramming device is located inside the vehicle bay, in front of the 2nd shutter door which allows entrance into the property, both shutter doors and anti ramming devices being controlled from the bay’s security room. Both shutter doors being able to drop 10 inches past the ground’s surface, and able to be double locked from inside the vehicle bay. The vehicle bay’s security room should extend the entire length of the bay so that the security room’s entrance is only accessible once inside the property, once inside the property, a 4 digit code specifically for the vehicle bay’s security room is required to open a reinforced door. The vehicle bay’s security room should have a bullet resistant window that allows security to watch the outside, the inside of the vehicle bay, and inside the turnpike area where people on foot transit through to get into the school property, communications between security and visitors who wish to enter the property should be done by placing a 2 way speaker 2 ft to the left or right of the window in the actual concrete of the wall, the security room should have its own toilet, sink, refrigerator, and microwave. Since this gate is both the exit and entrance for vehicles, there will be red and blue flashing lights that will flash on whichever side a vehicle is exiting from. Only vehicles contracted by the school to fulfill a job are allowed entry, all other vehicles, including school buses should park right outside the school property outer fence. Allowing many vehicles to enter through gate raises risk for threats to sneak through the gate while vehicles are entering and exiting. School busses will park nearest to the main gate to make bus riders less susceptible to threats. All contractor vehicles and contractor personnel will go through a security inspection inside the vehicle bay if arriving by vehicle, if arriving by foot, they will pass through the weapon detector prior to being let in, even if already given a visitor’s card, they will also be subject to all required security protocols at the main building. Visitors can only enter through all keycard operated entrances by being let in by a security guard. The main gate’s entering procedure is as follows for vehicles entering the property. Vehicle arrives at main gate, all personnel who are in the vehicle will exit the vehicle and approach the vehicle bay’s window, then present their visitor’s pass along with a 2nd form of iD, a security guard will now meet the contractors right outside the entry gate, anti ramming device will be lifted, shutter door will rise, vehicle will enter, the security guard from outside will enter next, but 2nd shutter door inside vehicle bay will remain closed, 1st shutter door will close after vehicle and security guard have entered the vehicle bay, security inspection will begin on the vehicle and visitors, after inspection area is recognized as threat free and security inspection is complete, 2nd anti ramming device inside vehicle bay will be lifted, then 2nd shutter door will rise, vehicle may now proceed into school property, 2nd shutter door will close behind entering vehicle, the vehicle bay is now ready to receive and inspect the next vehicle. The main gate will also consist of an entry point for people entering on foot, this entry point will have 4 doors that lead inside an entry tunnel, once inside, everyone entering will pass through one of 4 weapon detectors, followed by one of 4 two way turnstile entrances, followed by a walkway that leads to a 2nd line of two way turnstiles, both lines of turnstiles require a keycard for personnel on foot to enter. This entry for people entering on foot will be located on the right side of the gate’s security room, in the case of an infiltration emergency, the security room should have the capability to shut down all turnpike entrances. The main gate will also consist of the visitor center, which will be located to the left of the vehicle bay. The visitor center, vehicle bay, security room, and turnpike tunnel entrance should all be connected. To prevent climbing on the roof of the security gate’s visitor center, vehicle bay, and pedestrian entry tunnel, these 3 areas will reach a minimum height of 15 ft, these 3 areas will have a 7 ft high anti climb mini mesh chain link fence installed on all edges of the roof, a steel corner guard will be placed across the edges of the roof, with the fence going over the lower half of the steel corner guard as far as possible until it touches the upper half of the steel corner guard. This setup is to prevent anyone from being able to acquire a grip on the bottom part of the roof’s fence. Also install a steel roller on the edge of the top of the fence, the gap between the steel roller and the edge on top of the fence should be small enough to prevent a person from being able to fit their fingers between the steel roller and the top of the fence, a roller barrier should also be placed right above the steel roller, with a gap small enough to prevent a person from being able to fit their fingers between both rollers. The steel rollers should be no less than 6 ft in length, and should have a radius no bigger than a Pepsi can. It may take several of these roller groups to cover the entire top of the fence. This setup is to prevent anyone from being able to acquire a grip on the top part of the roof’s fence, as well as going over the roof’s fence.

 

5-Security Rover System.

2 Rover security guards should be placed outside of the main building to continually circle around the building, patrolling inside the property along the security walls, and looking for unauthorized intruders. The rover guards should circle around the property in the same direction, but one rover starting from a 6 o’clock coordinate, the other starting from a 12 o’clock coordinate, and both maintaining that distance from each other as they circle around the property, this roving method maximizes the rover’s perimeter coverage.

 

6-Outer Camera System.

One of the 2 layout methods will be used, 1st layout option, a camera that can continuously auto rotate 360 degrees will be placed on top of a tower, this tower will be placed in the very center of the building, the tower will reach the necessary height so that the 360 degree camera can have a bird’s eye view of the entire school property, next, 4 cameras that auto rotate 90 degrees to both the left and the right will be placed as near as possible to the inner 15ft security wall, one of these 4 cameras will be placed on the south part of the wall, the other on the north part of the wall, the other in the west, and the other on the east, these cameras should be placed just high enough to be able to look over most obstacles in order to have a clear line of sight straight back to the main building.

 

2nd layout option, place 4 cameras that auto rotate 90 degrees to both the left and the right, these cameras will be placed on the outer edges of the main building on top of the building, one camera on the south edge of the building, the other on the north edge of the building, the other on the west edge, and the other on the east edge, these cameras will be mounted on a tower, the tower will reach the necessary height so that by working together they can have a bird’s eye view of the entire school property, next, 4 cameras that auto rotate 90 degrees to both the left and the right will be placed as near as possible to the inner 15ft security wall, one of these 4 cameras will be placed on the south part of the wall, the other on the north part of the wall, the other in west, and the other on the east, these cameras should be placed just high enough to be able to look over most obstacles in order to have a clear line of sight straight back to the main building.

 

The purpose of these camera layouts is to both have eyes looking out from the center point, and at the same time have eyes looking back into the center point, this allows an extremely slim chance for a threat to enter the property undetected. Some cameras should only have a 90 degree rotation radius for the reason that any higher rotation radius would be a waste of motion, causing a temporary blind spot. The security monitors for all security cameras should be located in the bullet proof room located at the main entrance. The bullet proof room is the best location for the security monitors for the reason that if there is a possible attack, the guards at the entrance are the ones who can quickly inform people right outside the main entrance to quickly enter the building before all doors are shut down. Other guards in all other locations would have to inform the main entrance guards of the critical situation so that the main entrance guards can get everyone inside, this could extend the duration of how long it takes for people to get inside the building, the other problem is that a radio malfunction could occur during the emergency, therefore taking even longer to contact the main entrance guards in order to get everyone inside and secure the building.

 

7-Building Outer Security System.

Future schools should be built similar to Apple Headquarters, not necessarily the same size, but very similar in design. The Apple Headquarters design is highly recommended for the purpose that the center of the building is surrounded by the walls of the building itself, perfect for protecting students during outside activities such as recess, students have the benefit of being outside, while being protected by the surrounding walls. The building’s outward windows should be bullet resistant, double plated, with an air gap between the two plates, be installed slanted for extra bullet resistance, and have privacy film applied. Windows facing towards the main building’s open center area should have no privacy film installed, but still have a minimum of one layer of bullet resistant windows for the purpose of giving anyone the ability to asses the security level of a very large area by merely looking through the windows facing towards the building’s center area.

 

Schools should have only 1 entrance, and only enough exits to comply with fire safety.

 

A roundabout should be built right in front of the vehicle bay’s 2nd entry shutter door, with speed bumps on the left and right side of the roundabout, with an 8 ft high, 20 ft wide brick wall in the center of the roundabout, the wall acting as a platform for applying the school’s name, and also acting as a shield against an attacker that would fire into the shutter doors from the outside.

 

Bollards must be placed inside the school property, past the security walls, all around the road which encircles the school’s buildings for the purpose of maintaining all vehicles on the school property’s road once they are inside the school property, and preventing all vehicles from veering off the property’s road and unto the areas meant for pedestrians.

 

The open area between the security wall and the main building should be divided into multiple sections, and numbered, for the purpose of being able to relay accurate information to other security of where a possible security breach may be occurring.

 

20ft high light posts should be installed between the security wall and the main building, a minimum of 15ft away from the security wall. These lights should be motion activated lights, after the person has walked away from the lights motion detection zone, the light should only remain lit for an additional 5 seconds, these lights should be installed around the entire school property, and placed just far enough from each other, so that when a person is too far from one light (causing it to turn off) another light will almost immediately be activated in it’s place. The purpose of this light system is for the purpose that if a potential threat is able to get past the security wall during late dark hours, while security is at its lowest, the motion activated lights will be activated to make police units nearby aware that someone has gotten past the security walls, and inside the school property, and since these lights rapidly turn on and off depending on where the infiltrator is moving, outside authorities will be able to accurately determine the infiltrator’s location just by looking at which light post is currently lit up, even from the outside. This light system will be turned off when security personnel arrive each day, and turned on when security personnel depart for the day.

 

All windows on all floors will have either a NO opening option, a lock on the window that can only be unlocked with a special key carried by a permanent teacher, or a mixture of both, the purpose for this security feature is for the reason that even if it becomes impossible to get a weapon inside the building through the front entrance, it is still possible for a 2 man team working together to sneak a weapon inside by having one person on the outside of the building handing a weapon to a person inside the building through an unsecured window, with a 2 man team, this can be achieved even through a window on the top floor.

 

School exits should be configured in the following order, starting from the inside of the building, one way bullet resistant revolving glass door that only allows you to exit and not enter. Revolving door leads to a bulletproof one way exit door which leads you outside the building.

 

All building exit doors with the exception of the main entrance and fire emergency re-entry doors that require a special key must be one way doors without anything to grab unto for the purpose of preventing a person from outside from opening the door, which means you can exit but not enter again through those same doors because the type of door makes it impossible to enter unless purposely opened by someone inside the building.

 

If a threat does manage to enter the building through the one way exit door that leads to the outside, he will get no further as the one way revolving door only allows exit and not entrance no matter what.

 

One way bulletproof revolving glass exiting doors CANNOT be a simple revolving door, example, while the one way revolving door doesn’t allow anyone to enter, a weapon can still be passed through the revolving door between a 2 man team, one person inside, and one person outside passing the weapons to the person inside if there are gaps in the door, therefore the revolving door must be solid, bulletproof, and without gaps that would allow even the smallest of firearms, or parts of a firearm that could be reassembled later into a fully operational weapon inside the building.

 

Each one way exit door should be numbered both inside and outside with a live security camera inside each of these exit passages, as this allows a surveillance guard to quickly become aware of where the security threat is taking place during an alert.

 

The revolving exit door, and one way exit door should NOT require a keycard, as they are exit doors, and should NOT be electrically operated as this could cause a problem in the case of power loss during a fire emergency.

 

A special bay should be installed in the main building for receiving supplies such as furniture, large electronics, and food. This bay should be located in the rear of the building, and should be built in the following design. The bay for receiving supplies should be about the size of 4 house garages, it should have a live surveillance camera, it should have a shutter door on the front of the bay that leads to the outside, and have heavy duty reinforced entry doors at the end of the bay, followed by another set of reinforced doors that finally lead inside the school, starting from inside the building, the first doors that are used to enter partially into the bay can only be opened on either side by using a normal key, the second door that follows, that allows full entry into the bay can only be opened on either side by entering a 4 digit code. This 4 digit code will be changed every month.

 

When receiving supplies, the person receiving the supplies will receive all supplies first, then after all contractors have cleared the bay, and the shutter door is closed, then the person receiving the supplies will begin to bring the supplies inside the main building through the 4 digit code operated reinforced doors.

 

8-Building Security Entrance System.

School main entrances should be configured in the following order, 2 way bulletproof security revolving glass doors that require a key card for a student or staff member to enter, followed by a weapon detector with an armed security guard managing the weapon detector area, followed by a 2nd line of 2 way bulletproof revolving glass doors that also require a key card for entry, a minimum of 40 ft away from the first revolving glass doors, as well as another armed guard inside a bulletproof watch room between the weapon detector area and 2nd line of revolving doors, constantly watching the main entrance and weapon detector area as a 2nd set of eyes, with the capability to shut down the 2nd line of revolving doors with the pull of a switch or push of a button, and also able to dial 911, and set off an alarm that is specifically designed for an active shooter situation all within the bulletproof room. The 2nd line of revolving doors is incase the threat manages to enter through the first line of doors somehow, and eliminates the guard at the weapon detector area, if such an event happens, the 2nd observatory guard can shut down the 2nd set of revolving doors all within his bulletproof room, not allowing further entry into the building no matter what.

 

9-Building Internal Security System.

The school should be separated into several compartments by installing doors throughout multiple areas of the school in the hallways, the doors should be bulletproof and electronically operated in order to be shut down. The purpose of separating the school into several compartments with these electrical doors is incase a threat manages to enter the building, with being able to shut down the doors it will be possible to isolate the threat to a single compartment, taking away the threat’s ability to move throughout the entire building, also making the threat easy to locate because the threat is trapped, it is the same method used on ships to contain flooding. Each separate compartment must have a minimum of one security camera per compartment in order to have eyes in every compartment if a building door shut down ever does happen, every compartment must also be numbered in order to quickly locate where the problem is.

 

Each classroom’s main entry door should be reinforced and protected by an extra thick u shaped wall that surrounds the front and back of the door. The gap between the u shaped wall and the front and back of the door should be 32 inches.

 

Install a long-range acoustic device (LRAD System) which can be activated from inside the classroom, placed right outside the classroom in the area between the u shaped wall and the classroom’s main entry door, a camera will also be installed in this area which can be viewed from inside the classroom.

 

Install fire extinguishers that can extinguish fuel based fires in every classroom.

 

Classrooms should have a keycard operated reinforced door within the classroom which connects to the neighboring classroom and allows students to escape into that classroom in the event that the threat might soon infiltrate the room. This will be a network of 4 or more classrooms that all interconnect. Only staff will carry the keycard to open this secondary door, this door can only be opened by keycard regardless of which side of the door you’re on. This secondary door will also be concealed within a u shaped wall, the opening in the u shaped wall that leads to the secondary door will be covered by a sliding bookshelf that can be opened and closed from either side.

 

The building should have a medical treatment room. The treatment room should be located in the first floor, as close as possible to the most used fire exit, and should have medical items needed to stabilize all major injuries. There should be at least one staff member available during school hours who can perform first responder medical treatment for various serious injuries such as gun shots, fractures, head and spinal injuries, and excessive bleeding in order to stabilize casualties until paramedics arrive on the scene.

 

Every guard and school staff member should have a panic button available in order to alert all security personnel at the same time that there is a security breach in the building.

 

FINAL NOTES:

Start an All Volunteer School Security Program, or AVSS Program. This allows added security to a school based on a 100% volunteer basis. Helps save money, and increases the chance that the school will never be short on security. However each volunteer must be subject to a thorough background check appropriate for the position.

 

When security first arrives on the property in the early morning, security will comb the area between the security walls and the main building, looking for any potential threats. This should be completed prior to the arrival of staff and students.

 

Regardless of having a weapon detector or not, random baggage checks on students, staff, and visitors should be carried out during the day, including during opening hours, in both the security gate and building’s entrance, looking for any suspicious liquids, or anything that resembles a part for a weapon, any suspicious items attained from a student during a random search must be reported and cleared for entry by an education staff member before the item is authorized and allowed inside the facility, or even returned to the student. These random searches are performed in order to always keep a possible threat guessing and unsure of the chances of success to carry out an attack.

Require active shooter training for students and school staff a minimum of one time per month.

 

Students and none security personnel in hallways should enter the nearest classroom during an active shooter scenario, if not a classroom, enter the nearest office. All students and none security personnel should avoid a shooters line of sight areas, such as being directly in the line of sight of windows and doors. All participants should remain sitting on the floor until threat level is back to normal.

 

Live camera surveillance should be divided into 3 different groups for the purpose that it can increase surveillance focus. The main gate security will monitor the main gate’s cameras, the building entrance security will monitor the cameras located on the towers and inside and right outside the building, and the cameras located near the LRAD System right outside each classroom will be monitored by each individual teacher during a shooter scenario.

 

I would like to point out that students should not be given any negative consequences for loosing their keycard, as this could discourage them from reporting their solely assigned key card, not reporting a lost keycard could result in a late deactivation of the card, which could allow a threat to use the lost card to enter.

 

For the new building design that I suggest, which is very similar to the design used by Apple Headquarters, it should be noted that if the building needs an auditorium, gymnasium, or pool, but the building design simply cannot support such areas because of it’s design, then in a scenario like this I recommend building a separate body or bodies, but any extra bodies would be connected to the main body of the building in order to not have the need to exit the main body, this also eliminates the need of having an entrance to the other bodies because every body is connected, the only body that would not be connected would be the visitor center where visitors aquire a visitor’s pass.

 

Notice that with this type of design, it might be a possibility to evacuate students to the center of the building during a fire drill or emergency if it doesn’t go against protocol, this could eliminate possible shooter threats from the outside since the students will be protected by the building’s surrounding walls, but if this is not doable for any reason, I have already laid out a plan for fire drill evacuations, the following fire drill plan is advised.

 

Fire emergency evacuation procedure:

2–Each fire emergency rendezvous point should be monitored with a live security camera by security personnel to maintain security integrity of the fire emergency rendezvous point.

3–During a fire drill or emergency, a rapid response team will position themselves next to the exit door that will be used to exit into the fire emergency rendezvous point, at this time the response team will have their firearms with an ammunition clip inserted, round in the chamber, but the weapon is on safety, and is holstered.

4–The security guard assigned to the security cameras will survey the fire emergency rendezvous point for any possible threats before the rapid response team is allowed to exit into the fire emergency rendezvous point.

5–The security guard assigned to the security cameras will relay to the rapid response team either to proceed or not proceed to the fire emergency rendezvous point.

6–If the rapid response team is allowed to proceed into the fire emergency rendezvous point, they will leave one team member behind to remain inside the building, next to the exit door.

7–As the rapid response team exits to the fire emergency rendezvous point, they will survey the area in detail for possible threats.

8–If no threats are detected, the rapid response team will form a security line around the rendezvous point, constantly looking for potential unsuspecting threats.

9–After the security line has been formed, the rapid response team leader will relay back to the team member previously left inside the building that the rendezvous point is secure and ready to receive personnel.

10–As all personnel exit the building into the rendezvous point, the rapid response team member who was previously left behind will be the last person to exit the building.

11–After the previously left behind rapid response team member exits the building, his duty outside will be to stand guard at the exit door during the duration of the drill or emergency until every person is back inside the building.

12–The rapid emergency response team that formed the security line should be constantly searching for possible threats during the entire duration of the drill or emergency until the team begins to proceed back into the building.

13–When all personnel are asked to return back into the building, all students will go first, followed by non security personnel, followed by the rapid emergency response team that formed the security line, 2 team members at a time, while the other team members maintain constant security watch.

14–When the last of the rapid response team begins to retreat back into the building, the team member guarding the door will maintain watch of the area.

15–When all response team members have retreated back into the building, the team member guarding the door will act as the final person to enter back into the building.

16–Since it might only be possible to use regular exits to exit and not re-enter, a separate door near the regular exit will be used to re-enter the building, however the separate door will only allow exiting and entering by using a special key held by the security team member guarding the door during a fire drill or emergency.

NOTE: Team members should be equipped with as many of the following as available, communication radios, firearm with live or rubber ammunition, or anything for self defense if a firearm can’t be acquired, eye protection, body armor, durable footwear, durable pants.

NOTE 2: Response team member guarding the door should be equipped with as many of the above items listed, but also including a medium or large size medical pack.

NOTE 3: The guards for this team should be selected based on mental stress durability, firearms skill and experience, dependability, and physical fitness.

NOTE 4: In the event that an unexpected shooter arises after all personnel have exited the building, all unarmed personnel are to lay flat on the ground, with their feet away from the building, and start heading back inside the building in the dog or crawl position once the door has been opened for re-entry.

 

CLOSING STATEMENT:

What are the biggest challenges that are faced today with coming up with an effective defensive strategy, and what is the biggest challenge to get that idea off the ground?

 

In my opinion the 3 biggest problems in launching a successful security plan is 1st, a successful security strategy, 2nd, applying a strategy at a reasonable cost, 3rd convincing the people above you to approve the operation.

 

I’m well aware that any project costs money, and of course I recommend everything I laid out in the blueprint, but in the case that there is a tight budget, and not everything can be afforded, then downgrading from a grade A to a grade B door can still be an option, maybe not as effective as grade A, but still very effective, or even cutting down on numbers could be a possible strategy, such as cutting down on cameras, only placing cameras in the most crucial areas, another possible route would be for example to NOT exactly eliminate an entire school program, but maybe to take a few bits of funding from multiple programs in order to finance a new project. Because I’m aware of a budget, I also suggested to apply this method of security in the areas that seem to be the most open to an attack instead of every school in the state. The other way to accomplish a project is by doing one thing at a time, first fortify the main entrance, next year fortify possible points of entry like windows, the following year apply privacy film to the most crucial parts of the building, and so on.

 

The next problem is how to convince the people in charge to begin launching a project. I would ask, how much money are these attacks costing the state every time they happen? How much money would be spent on a top security blueprint VS having to deal with these attacks over and over again? Not to mention all the lives saved, and saving yourself from having to explain to the parents and media of why these attacks keep happening as often as they do.