I'm a retired cop (the badge says retired captain - but I was only a lieutenant when I retired out...) and, although I live here in Broward county (the people's republic of Broward - and Debbie Whatsername Schultz is my congresswoman... lucky me...) I worked as a cop for 22 years in Dade county... Every election I make a point of voting - knowing that I'm in the minority and that the usual policies that I mostly disagree with - will continue on as before... The most recent election fiasco was actually entirely apart from all that... but I digress...
All of that said, most have not gotten a realistic view of what happened that day - and what the actual school setup there was... Both my kids went through Flanigan High School - which is almost a copy of the layout at Parkland... Put simply, the campus for the shooting scene is just entirely too big to have any meaningful security without at least ten officers there every day the school is open.... (both schools cover almost four blocks - with lots and lots of open areas where anyone can approach on foot..). That's the scene - now look at how many "school resource officers" that the county had assigned.... and remember for a police manager - you're not going to send your best, most productive officer to a school assignment... usually it's one of your "retired in place" type officers.... Add to that the gradual overtaking of police responsibilities by the county sheriff's office over some time... Broward - like Dade county (now called Miami Dade I believe...) is pretty much completely suburban sprawl - a patchwork of small and medium sized cities that run together so well - that it's hard for a newcomer to even begin to know what city they're in... Add to that the sheriff's office is very glad to take over policing in any small town (like Parkland...) that wants to save on taxes and is willing to accept the premise that this great big county sheriff's office will give their town special consideration... and you can pretty much guess how that works out (down in Dade county almost none of the cities there have been willing to do that -if your town doesn't have it's own police force - it gives up any real power to work on problems that really might actually need cops....).
Now you have a bit better idea of what the scene was that day (and the years leading up to it). Lots of promises by a big, not exactly five star sheriff's outfit and the reality that it's a very big populated area with lots of small towns throughout that are relying on the sheriffs to provide policing (still a number of medium and large sized cities that have kept their own policing - and by and large they actually do the job if they are aware of any problems... If I remember correctly one of them was actually the first on the scene to assist the few school resource officers already there...
Now for the candle on the cake... every officer is taught from day one to "wait for your backup" in a hazardous situation -that basic tenet is directly opposed to what needs to be done in an active shooter situation - which is to aggressively seek out and engage the shooter and limit the number of casualties no matter what the cost... I was never taught any of that (my era was 1973 to 1995 -well before Columbine and all that followed). I'd like to think that I'd respond aggressively (lord knows I did my share of foolish things on the street) but no one (and not anyone reading this unless they're a blooded combat veteran...) can be sure of how they'll react when the guns begin to sound. The great big competent officer freezes and in his (or her) panic is pretty much useless.. The small librarian type turns into a tiger and looks like Audie Murphy in action.... You can line up a 15 man squad and predict which will stand up and which will fail under terrible dangerous stressfull conditions - but you'd be surprised how it works out... That's why training in advance is so important - as well as knowing just who will be in charge when more than one agency shows up in those first few minutes -when lives really can be saved...
Now for the end of my little sermon... take a look at your own schools where you live... Is the very size of the school small enough to be manageable - are your local officers well trained and well led? Is your local political structure reasonably honest with the folks they represent - or are they whistling through the graveyard claiming abilities they don't have? Me, I figure that there are lots of potential Parklands out there - and more for all of us to learn... For officers and young supervisors - tactics in a violent scene are everything (much more important than weapons and manpower from my point of view..). Train to meet your known hazards - and train to meet the unexpected. After every (and I mean every) critical incident - have a full review (both formal and informal) at the shift level and at top management's level... Find out what went right - and what went wrong -then correct deficiencies before your next critical event.... That's how I approached it - and with every incident - we got better....
GREAT POST,and well thought out imnsho.
But after the Columbine attack I had a VERY heated discuaaion with a Lt. who was in charge of out ERT [ same as SWAT ] team.
I iinsisted that there was no way in hell that as an armed,trained,and ballisticlly protected adult that was "duty bound" [ and I still take that personally ] to enter at the risk of great bodily harm or death to myself.
I could not live with myself if I were to stand by and allow UNARMED children & teacers to die when there was at least a chance I could have fire directed at me ,instead of them.
I am not blowing smoke and I sure as hell aint brave.
But "women & children first" was how I was raised and if the "weaker sex" don't like my analogy = too bad.
After we had that LOUD 'discussion' [ argument ] it was amusing that the ROE became that you would first wait till you had 4 uniforms,THEN it was do NOT wait but enter and take on the ACTIVE SHOOTER.
If it became a hostage situation,then by all means wait the FOUR or more HOUR'S till ERT/SWAT could arrive.
Ever since the hostage/shooting in the McDonalds that took about 23 lives,I have been an advocate of ENTER and stop the attacker.
And if you know you are not able to do that " duty bound " action = go train for another job.
Its not brave,but more likely stubborn to say " NOT ON MY WATCH ".