MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — Seven Ohio schools were affected by active shooter hoaxes last week. Now, districts across the state are making sure they don’t fall prey to it next.
Sept. 23 went from a typical Friday to one filled with fear for students like Jayla Bradshaw.
“I was just really like really scared and I really didn’t know how to feel,” said Bradshaw.
The Princeton High School student got tearful when she thought back to the moment police swarmed her school, responding to a threat of an active shooter that turned out to be a hoax. A scenario that played out at several schools, causing fear and tying up valuable law enforcement resources.
While there was no real threat, it’s critical for schools to be vigilant and ready to respond in the event of an emergency. In Middletown City Schools, like many districts, they rely on school resource officers. In case of an active shooter situation, Middletown Police Chief David Birk said they use the ALICE procedure.
“The alert is the most crucial part of it,” said Birk. “Then you go to the lockdown, inform and then you encounter and then you evacuate.”
While Middleton was not the target of the hoaxes, in the event officers receive an alert, Birk said they investigate. The first officer on scene goes straight to the threat.
“We can no longer wait for three or four officers to show up,” he said. “We have to go in there to make sure we neutralize the threat because we don’t want other kids and other people hurt.”
One way Birk said they identify if it’s a genuine threat is by the amount of calls they receive.
“If we only have one call from one active shooter at the school, that doesn’t make sense,” he said. “We would have multiple calls on that.”
If the active shooter situation is real, the police department doesn’t handle the situation on their own. They call in their 16 man SWAT team, which will cost the department anywhere between $2,500 to $3,000.
“If it hits the matrix, we’re going to utilize our SWAT team because they’re highly trained. They’ve done multiple search warrants and they work as pairs,” he said. “For me, it not only keeps them safe, but it keeps the community safer.”
In hopes of better protecting their students and staff, Middletown Police Department recently added three more school resource officers into the schools. There are two at the high school, one at the middle school, and three in the elementary schools.
“Having school resource officers is the first level of defense and we’re just extremely happy they added three more school resource officers,” he said.
