Bomb Threat

Here is an excerpt from a Chicago Tribune article last week:


"We can think of few things more unsettling than learning that a headless body — alongside an unexploded pipe bomb — has been discovered near your child's middle school.

That's what parents in Evanston faced Tuesday (09/14), after a man walking his dog made the grisly find at a park adjacent to Nichols Middle School. Parents were especially upset that they heard about it only when they arrived to drop off their kids for school — or when the school bus returned the youngsters to the bus stop with the news that classes were canceled. The school remained closed the next day, and questions from parents were flying much faster than answers from school officials or police.

We share parents' alarm, their concerns for their children's safety and yes, their curiosity. But their dissatisfaction at the pace of information strikes us as a sign of the times. Thanks to the cell phone and the BlackBerry, to e-mail alerts and text messaging and continuously updated Internet news sites, we've come to expect nearly instant communication.

The timeline of events is not so damning. Though the explosion was reported at 3:53 a.m., police who searched the area couldn't find anything to explain it. They left. It wasn't until around 5:15 a.m. that the dog walker found the body; by the time he got home and notified police, it was 5:48 a.m.

The body was found near the city tennis courts and play lot, at the south end of the block; the school is at the north end. It's fair to assume the responding officers had their hands full. The area was taped off, but it was more than an hour — 7:15 a.m. — before police sat down with school officials. The call to close the school was made around 7:30 a.m., a notice was placed on the district Web site by 8 a.m. and an e-mail blast was sent to parents 10 minutes later.

No, that wasn't enough notice to prevent many people from showing up for an 8:30 a.m. start. But it doesn't sound like anyone was being lackadaisical or indecisive. And those who showed up for school weren't allowed anywhere near the crime scene. They may have been inconvenienced, but they weren't endangered.

A very few years ago, the district's ability to notify parents of the emergency would have been far more limited — the local radio station, a rudimentary phone tree. If you rewind the years (or months) to mark your own technological milestones, you may be surprised to realize how recently you learned about texting or how little time has passed since the entire family relied on a single land-line phone. This drama would have played out very differently even five years ago. Then, as now, nobody would have gotten hurt. Nobody would have complained that the e-mail came too late, either.

Evanston school officials have had blessedly little experience with headless bodies on the playground. Short of staffing a 24-hour crisis line, we're not sure they could get the word out much faster, though this week's lessons — and tomorrow's technology — might change that. Let's hope we never find out."


Congratulations, José M. Osorio (author of the aricle). I consider this to be responsible journalism.

What are your thoughts?

Security Practices for Volunteers

Chicago, IL - According to a suburban police report from this past weekend, a female volunteer at a local catholic school/church was robbed and assualted as she prepared to sell fundraiser gift cards.
The offender approached the victim, who was alone at the time, and demanded money while displaying a black semi-automatic handgun. The victim complied by retrieving $4.00 from her purse. The offender became irate and struck the victim underneath her right eye with a closed fist. He then demanded and stole the "manna" fundraiser gift cards (for grocery stores and gas stations) from the victim.

What kind of thoughts does this story bring to mind? How could this incident have been avoided? What staffing and cash handling practices do you have in place to guard against this kind of situation?

Chicago, IL - According to a recent Chicago Sun-Times article, the families of nine elementary school girls who were molested by a band teacher in a suburban school district have been awarded $3.5 million.
The band teacher pleaded guilty four years ago to kidnapping and sexually abusing more than 20 girls. The lawsuit claimed that one of the school's principals was aware of the alleged activities, did not report the abuse, and hid evidence from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
Local police reportedly found letters from school officials during a search of the band teacher's residence warning him to stop inappropriately touching students.

This story may not be so much about the perpetrator as it is about school practices for handling allegations. I think school communities would rather know about potentially serious issues and how they are being addressed than find out about them after "damage control" efforts fail.

What kind of thoughts does this story bring to mind? How could this lawsuit have been avoided? What practices do you have in place to guard against this kind of situation?

Under the heading of "Sure to Go Viral" ------------------

We are selling Classroom Emergency Backpacks - http://www.retasecurity.com/pages.asp?pageid=94202 - and considering ways that we can give away backpacks to economically challenged schools, churches, etc. when those that have means make purchases of certain quantities. Any ideas that you might have in that endeavor would definitely be welcome.

Thanks in advance!

Check out this article I co-authored recently on the importance of critical communications:

http://www.peterli.com/spm/resources/articles/archive.php?article_id=2627

Your thoughts?

Financial Issues

According to a recent Los Angeles Times article, 14 school districts in the state of California have been financially classified as "in especially dire condition." For many of these districts, teacher lay-offs are just the tip of the iceberg. "Schools on this list are now forced to make terrible decisions to cut programs and services that students need or face bankruptcy," said state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell.

Unfortunately, school security budgets in California, and across the nation, are also being negatively impacted. At RETA Security, however, we recommend numerous low-cost/no-cost ways to provide a safer learning environment. For example:

• Better Visitor Management Procedures
• Committing to a "Closed Campus" Practice (or "Close Campus" in Certain Cases)
• Improving/Optimizing Communication Systems
• Undertaking a Collaborative Approach (i.e. Security Committee)

Obviously, some of these recommendations require explanation. Please contact us at info@retasecurity.com for more detail. Please post your ideas, as well.

School Violence Statistics

I recently came across the following statement on governmentvideo.com:

"In the past 10 years, 284 people have been killed in U.S. school-associated violent deaths. Of those, 130 were shot; others were stabbed, beaten to death or committed suicide."

Now, who can identify the number of students that have been killed in U.S. school-associated fires over the last 10 years? How 'bout the last 25 years? How 'bout the last 50 years?
The answer to all of those questions is ZERO! The reason that there have been no fire-related fatalities can only be attributed to the fact that schools must comply with stringent safety codes and standards. Mandates have indeed paid off!

On the other side of the coin, we have yet to benefit from codes and standards that could govern security practices such as visitor management, access control, communications, door hardware, etc.

How much more violence is it going to take until security codes and standards are also in place? While we may not be able to answer that question with certainty, it's high time that schools pursue a proactive approach to protecting students, staff, and visitors!

Your thoughts?