School Violence: “Are You Ready?”

Random thoughts and observations from the most preeminent national authority on school violence/shootings:

1. "Extensive loss protocols are always preceded by extensive loss."
   According to Dr. Dudley we must be more proactive as educators. One watchdog organization, The Bully Police U.S.A., ranks states on the basis of effective anti-bullying laws. Kansas has received a grade of "F".
2. "Security is inconvenient."
   Just ask those that travel via the airlines frequently. However, lessons learned from school violence events over the last 10 years tell us that a pound of prevention is worth an ounce of cure.
3. "After intensive interviews with perpetrators that survived and were imprisoned a common them of inequity emerged."
   Time after time the offenders repeated the theme that their reality was that school rules existed for some but not for all, this lead to disenfranchisement and disaffection.
4. The most dangerous intruders in a building are non-custodial parents.
5. Each year there are 200,000 attempts of this form of abduction.

Lessons learned from school violence events:

• Most school shootings last about 2 minutes. Rapid response (RAID- Rapid and Immediate Deployment) is more effective than tactical response (SWAT Teams) in active violence events. Much criticism was leveled at the Jefferson County (Littleton/Columbine) Sheriff's Department for a slow reaction. Law enforcement is now trained to deploy immediately in a diamond formation and seek out and "resolve" the problem.
• Good communication saves lives. At the Littleton event 5 different law enforcement agencies converged on the scene and none of them could communicate with each other. As a result common communication links between agencies have been developed.

This issue of effective communication correlates to educational planning as well. For example we've learned that classroom phones need to have the exact procedure for dialing 9-1-1 on them; including the number necessary to connect to an outside line. Another example is for LEA's to provide all law enforcement agencies updated maps of facilities; with all of the new construction schools have initiated many responding agencies would not be familiar with the building lay-out.

Perhaps just as importantly, crisis plans need to be developed based on relevance and timeliness (plans must be meaningful to participants). Each staff member must be trained and drilled in exactly what is expected of them and instructions should be printed in short specific terms and large font. Studies indicate that 90% of training will be lost on participants during real crisis.

An interesting study note from Littleton was that of all the cell phone calls made during the crisis 70% were made to 9-1-1; 30% were made to the media. Asked why they called the media the primary reason given was that students received "free cell minutes" if they reported a crime.

• Crisis creates chaos. Several examples illustrate this point; let's look at the Jonesboro, Ark. event. Two facts placed more people in harms way than would have otherwise occurred. First, in order to obtain targets for their attack one of the shooters ran inside the building and pulled a fire alarm, thus creating a steady flow of targets from the building. To compound the situation the doors automatically locked after a predetermined amount of time, thus depriving the students/teachers an opportunity to seek shelter (reverse evacuation). This reverse evacuation planning has saved lives as a result of drive-by shootings in Florida and California.

Secondly, word spreads very quickly and parents respond immediately. Perimeters don't work and rural areas represent the greatest risk. In Jonesboro as 90 shots rang out and 14 victims fell the traffic backup was so snarled that the closest an emergency vehicle could get to the scene was 1/3 of a mile (300 yards).

As such parent re-unification plans and alternate sites must be written into any crisis plan.

• Never call off activities. For years psychologists have pleaded with schools to be careful of memorials and funerals in school buildings because many children will always associate the loss with the location. Although appropriate means of bereavement need to be made available schools must realize that schools need to return to a safe and "normal" place as soon as possible. Studies of school violence now teach us that many of the shooters associate memorializing with the previously mentioned inequity issue. A recent hostage negotiation situation in Tennessee illustrates this point. The juvenile offender was embittered because the untimely death of a star athlete had been memorialized while the death of a marginal student had not. This was interpreted as labeling one death appropriate and the other not.

Researchers from the Secret Service (Safe School Initiative) have completed a detailed analysis of 37 school shootings. Here are some of the findings:

• Planning. They don't "snap." The attacks were neither spontaneous nor impulsive. In almost all cases the attacker developed the idea well in advance. Half considered the attack for at least two weeks and had a plan for at least two days. Two years before the Littleton event Dylan Klebold wrote in his journal, "I'll go on my killing spree against anyone I want." One student showed his friends four bullets; three for people he hated and one for himself. And that's just the way he used them.

• Concern. Almost all attackers had come to the attention of someone (school officials, police, fellow students) for disturbing behavior. One student worried his friends by talking often of putting rat poison in the cheese shakers at a pizza restaurant. Others wrote poems about homicide and suicide.

Adults didn't investigate, remaining unaware of the depth of the problem. Few of the boys had close relationships with adults. Few participated in organized activities and most often the likely original targets were girls.

Before Littleton, the local Sheriff had been given copies of Eric Harris' web site, describing his pipe bombs, with page after page of threats: "You all better f-------- hide in your houses because I'm comin for EVERYONE soon, and I WILL be armed to the f----- teeth and I WILL shoot to kill and I WILL F----KILL EVERYTHING."

• Communication. They aren't "loners." In more than three fourths of the cases, the attacker told someone about his interest in mounting an attack at school. In more than half of the incidents, the attacker told more than one person. Some people knew detailed information, while others knew something "spectacular" was going to happen on a particular date. These communications were usually with friends or schoolmates; in only two cases was the confidant an adult. In less than one-fourth of the cases did the attacker make a direct threat to the target."I'm going to kill her sometime today or tomorrow," a student warned.

• Bystanders. Those who knew in advance of the attack sometimes encouraged the attack and sometimes urged an escalation of the plan, but only rarely told anyone or shared their concerns with others before the attack. In about one-third of the cases, the attack was influenced or dared by others or a group. A friend of Harris asked him what he was going to do with bomb-making equipment."He said he was going to blow up the school." A friend of one shooter was told what would happen. "I was his friend. Calling someone would have been a betrayal. It just didn't seem right to tell."

• Mental Illness. Few shooters have been diagnosed with a mental illness, or had histories of drug or alcohol abuse. But more than half had a history of feeling extremely depressed or desperate. About three-fourths threatened to kill themselves, made suicidal gestures or tried to kill themselves before the attack. Six killed themselves during the attack. Luke Woldham's journal: "I am not insane. I am angry. I am not spoiled or lazy, for murder is not weak and slow-witted, murder is gutsy and daring… I killed because people like me are mistreated every day…I am malicious because I am miserable."

Woodham says now, "I didn't really see my life going on any further. I thought it was all over with…I couldn't find a reason not to do it."