It takes a community to create safe schools...

...and educators, parents and students have an important voice. There are three important questions that should be asked and answered:

What are the procedures for local law enforcement response?

Following Columbine, the recommended entry was Immediate Action/Rapid Deployment tactics. While the procedure has different names depending on the locality and other fast entry options are also being implemented, it is critical that law enforcement immediately deploys resources into threatening situations where delays could otherwise result in death or great bodily harm to innocent persons.

Does your school/district have lockdown procedures?

Are the lockdown procedures being used and/or being considered by the campus up to date and integrated with law enforcement's entry tactics? Training teachers and students to lock the classroom door, turn off lights and hide under their desks can result in death or serious injury to innocent children.

Does your school/district have classroom management and evacuation procedures for lockdowns?

Locking down the school should take under two minutes, but then the teachers have to manage students for the next one to three hours in a high anxiety situation. This is not a component of teacher training and frightened children can quickly overwhelm even an experienced teacher. Unless a plan with law enforcement is in place, the evacuation can prolong a lockdown for untenable duration.

Our proprietary Code Red Lockdown Protocols are the only fully integrated Armed Intruder/Active Shooter Response System for schools and law enforcement. While nothing is failsafe, they have been used to successfully support law enforcement's resolution of numerous armed intruder incidents on school campuses.

Code Red Protocols were developed in collaboration with educators and law enforcement professionals in order to proactively:

• quickly resolve the threat
• reduce threat to life
• minimize confusion

We bring our clients a wealth of front line expertise in the areas of crisis prevention, preparation, response and recovery.