Close Call While Researching Sequel to Staying Alive – How to Act Fast and Survive Deadly Encounters

August 6, 2014 by Michael Dorn

This elite anti-poaching team helps patrol the more than 1.3 million square miles of Coutada 11 and 12 in the Zambeze Delta Region. Combined with teams that patrol on foot, these brave men face extremely tough conditions in the bush to combat poachers. Though poaching is still a challenge, wildlife populations have bounced back remarkably well since these efforts were initiated. U.S. Military special operators could learn from these determined men.

A portion of the leg-hold traps the anti-poaching team has confiscated in the past year. These leg-hold traps are called Jennies and are made from old car door springs. Wire snares are far more prevalent because they are easier to make and transport. Trapped animals are finished off with spears with blades fashioned from re-bar and set in a bamboo pole. Though crude, these spears will penetrate the hide of a buffalo or an elephant.

After they found and freed a female Reedbuck caught by the neck in a wire snare, Gorchie, Albino and Poen were able to locate this extremely well-concealed poacher’s camp. They confiscated a considerable amount of meat and supplies before burning the camp. The poachers had walked more than 30 miles to set up this operation. Meat poachers kill many animals they never recover and can kill an astounding number of animals ranging from small antelope to lions and buffalo.

Close Call During Research Visit for Sequel to Staying Alive- How to Act Fast and Survive Deadly Encounters

Research for the sequel for Staying Alive – How to Act Fast and Survive Deadly Encounters has been a most interesting experience thus far. During the past two weeks, I have had the privilege to interview and observe three of the most fearless men I have ever met. I also had the opportunity to observe them operate under pressure in a situation that was likely more dangerous than any I faced in twenty years as a law enforcement officer.

Relevance to School Crisis Preparedness

The first in a series of interviews with men and women who must routinely handle life and death situations, this experience occurred in the forests and swamps of Sofala Province of Mozambique. While their work bears little resemblance to the field of education at first glance, they provided valuable lessons for school and public safety officials here in the United States. This interview did not involve S.W.A.T. officers or military special operators. Though I will also be interviewing these types of experts for the project, this effort focused on three men who make very different types of high-stakes decisions in an environment where emergency assistance is typically hours if not days away when catastrophe strikes.

Close Encounter

I knew the trip would be an adventure, I did not anticipate that a series of sudden shifts in the wind would result in our group being surrounded on two sides by a large heard of Cape Buffalo. Weighing in at more than 1,500 pounds, Cape Buffalo are one of the most dangerous animals on the continent. Having the fringes of a heard of about 150 of these massive beasts 6-8 yards from our group in heavy cover could have resulted in a violent and grisly death for all four of us had these men not shown amazing control.

Life-saving Lessons from the bush

Sadly, I also had the opportunity to observe these men attempt to track a group of poachers who had hacked off the tusks of a large bull elephant. Unfortunately, the poachers had a full-day head start and had made it to the nearest town before we were able to take up the track.

Poen, Gorchie and Albino with the carcass of an old bull elephant. Though they were able to track the team of poachers, it readily became apparent from the age of their tracks that they had already made their escape.

I was able to learn quite a bit about how critical trust between team mates is when faced with imminent and severe danger. I was also blessed to be able to observe first-hand just how well experts can retain their composure under these types of trying conditions. I am looking forward to the interviews with other types of experts who are among the best in the world at staying alive and saving the lives of others.

Filed Under: Ask Safe Havens, Uncategorized

School Kidnapping Case Ends in Sentence

July 22, 2014 by Stephen Satterly

School Kidnapping

The boy who kidnapped a girl from Varina High School at gunpoint was sentenced to five years in prison. The boy kidnapped the girl from the high school parking lot by showing her the gun. He held her captive in a home for hours until she managed to escape. He plead no contest to charges of brandishing a firearm near a school. He was sentenced to five years, but the judge suspended four years and seven months of the sentence.

School Kidnapping Analysis

Kidnappings from school are rare, but as a recent case in Philadelphia showed, can be a high-impact event. The most recent case has the added dimension of occurring in the school parking lot. This adds an additional factor making it more difficult for which to prepare. There are some factors that schools can take a look at to improve their children’s security in and out of school buildings.

School Kidnapping Prevention – Access Control

The easiest way for schools to protect children is to limit access to their school to those people with legitimate purposes. This is done by developing protocols and procedures that screen those who enter, checking them against a database of authorized people. Of course, these are only as good as the people who implement them, so training and accountability are a must. High schools with parking lots can be monitored for out-of-the-ordinary behaviors, providing the school, and law enforcement, with early warning and information that may help with the investigation.

School Kidnapping Prevention – Climate Control

Schools that have a climate in which teachers, students and parents have developed trusting relationships make it easier to see when trouble is developing. It is possible that a girl who is having trouble with a young man will tell a trusted adult. Even if the kidnapping occurs, there may be information the trusted adult can give law enforcement that can get them to where they need to be.

School kidnappings need not occur. By developing good school climates and tighter access controls, schools can lower the probability that a kidnapping will occur at their school.

School Sexual Assault Part of a Game?

July 21, 2014 by Stephen Satterly

School Sexual Assault

A senior at St. Paul’s School in Concord, NH sexually assaulted a fifteen year old classmate. The police investigation revealed that the assault may have been part of a competition. The assaulter and his friends were competing to see who could “hook up” the most before the end of the school year. The assaulter is facing seven felony charges, but the others involved in the “game” may not be charged.

Some precepts of Title IX

School Sexual Assault Analysis

K12 schools, and higher education institutions, are covered under Title IX, part of a federal law that prohibits sexual discrimination. Recent guidance from the Obama Administration warns schools that waiting to start an inquiry into sexual crime allegations until after a police investigation has been concluded is unacceptable. Sexual violence is viewed under the law as an extreme form of hostile environment/sexual harassment and must be addressed.

Schools need to plan for sexual assaults on their campus. Remaining compliant with Title IX means knowing how to secure a crime scene for law enforcement. It also means placing a top priority on reporting sexual assaults to the proper authorities.

In Indiana, and specifically in my school district, we not only contact law enforcement, but the Division of Child Services. We also conduct our own internal investigation, ensuring not to interfere with other investigations. Policies and guidelines should be in place concerning disseminating video files, if applicable, as well as other aspects of coordination with local and state agencies.

Any report of school sexual assault should generate an immediate, comprehensive response by the school.

Filed Under: Ask Safe Havens, Uncategorized

An A+ in School Safety

July 18, 2014 by Michael Dorn

These photos depict an excellent utilization of murals to enhance student safety in the Chapel Hill, North Carolina Public School System. This clear marking makes it less likely that an aggressor could claim they accidentally entered the girl’s restroom by mistake. They also reduce the chances of students suffering embarrassment from the common problem of people entering the wrong restroom by mistake.

A+ Example of Murals to Enhance School Safety

Murals Enhance School Safety in Chapel Hill

While reviewing a school security report prepared by one of our analysts, we noted an unusually creative use of murals to mark student restrooms. The photos were taken at Phillips Middle School in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. We would like to share this excellent example of an A+ in school safety effort. All of us have probably walked into a restroom designed for the opposite sex by mistake. There are also instances in schools where a male student enters a girl’s restroom intentionally but claims they did so by mistake.

A+ in School Safety Solution at Phillips Middle School

Staff at Phillips Middle School came up with an excellent solution to this that is superior to anything I have seen in my visits to thousands of K12 schools over the years. While I have seen other examples of clearly marked student restrooms, none of the approaches I have seen have been as clear as this example. By combining murals depicting students with signage on two walls, the staff at Phillips have dramatically enhanced communication and significantly reduced the opportunity for a student to enter a restroom designed for students of the opposite sex intentionally or accidental accidentally.

A+ in School Safety effort and effect

Working routinely with architects and school planners over the years, I have encountered hundreds of really great ideas to improve school safety through murals, signage and other visible features. Fortunately, I still learn new and better ways to use visual indicators to improve school safety, security, climate, culture and emergency preparedness each year. We are always looking to our clients for A+ school safety ideas.

We are impressed with the innovative and effective approach used by the staff at Phillips High School. They remind us just how powerful a relatively simple and inexpensive approach to improve school safety and climate can be. For this, we give the team at Phillips an A+ for innovation.

Filed Under: Safe Havens Blog, Uncategorized

School Shooting Threat gets Student 10 Days

July 16, 2014 by Stephen Satterly

School Shooting Threat

A 15-year old student of Skyview High School in Vancouver, Washington, was arrested for making a school shooting threat in March. During a two-week period, the student identified those he planned to shoot. He also looked up “how to commit mass murder” on the Internet. He even gave a date for when the shooting would occur — the first day of school in September. The police did not find any evidence that the student had a firearm, or that he had access to one.

School Shooting Threat Analysis

The student’s attorney contends that the young man was “just joking”. However, schools cannot treat any threat as a joke. They, along with law enforcement, must thoroughly investigate such threats when they are made. For schools, this means having a multidisciplinary threat assessment team. This team should be comprised of professionals who have skills and training in such assessments. They should also know the person being assessed. Teachers, counselors, school administrators, law enforcement, mental health professionals, pastors, should all be considered for membership on the team. The Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools Technical Assistance Center has free resources to guide schools in this process. According to the US Department of Education and the US Secret Service, a multidisciplinary threat assessment team operates under six principles:

1) Targeted violence is the end result of an understandable, and oftentimes discernible, process of thinking and behavior. 2) Targeted violence stems from an interaction among the person, the situation, the setting, and the target.

3) An investigative, skeptical, inquisitive mindset is critical to successful threat assessment. 4) Effective threat assessment is based on facts rather than characteristics or “traits.”

5) An “integrated systems approach” should guide threat assessment investigations. 6) The central question of a threat assessment is whether a student poses a threat, not whether the student made a threat.

All elements of the team must work together to paint a true picture of the subject. The goal is to help the subject, while at the same time protecting your people. The time to plan is now, before you receive a school shooting threat, or any threat to the safety of your people.

Filed Under: Stephen Satterly Tagged With: Internet, mass murder, multidisciplinary threat assessment, Readiness and Emergency Management For Schools Grant, school shoting threat, Skyview High School, targeted violence, threat, Threat assessment

School Stabbing in Front of Kindergarten Class

July 7, 2014 by Stephen Satterly

School Stabbing

A school stabbing took place in Paris, France. A mother of one of the students entered the class and stabbed the teacher, Fabienne Terral-CalmΦs. The school stabbing took place early in the morning, shortly after school began. No one else was hurt.

The teacher had two small children. The mother was taken into custody. She was described by the French education minister Benoit Hamon as having “serious psychiatric problems.”

School Stabbing Analysis

We frequently hear that school violence is uniquely American, but that is far from the truth. A look at the timeline of school attacks around the world is all one would need to see the error in that thinking. Laws do not stop people intent from doing harm to others.

What is needed is better psychiatric evaluations, and better threat assessment processes for schools. Schools should also take a hard look at their security procedures.
There should also be an understanding that all the planning in the world will not stop every event. Therefore schools should also have robust response and recovery protocols. There should also be quality interaction with local law enforcement. The US Department of Education has an excellent Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans available for free. This includes a threat assessment process.

There are more school stabbing attacks and attacks with weapons other than guns than their are attacks with guns. It is therefore important to plan and prepare for them, ecven as schools prepare for Active Shooters. In fact, an article in Education Week quoted this statistic, “Seven percent of public school students in grades 9-12 reported being threatened or injured with a weapon at school in the 2010-11 school year, according to the most recent data available from the
U.S. Department of Education.”

Don’t let “Active Shooter Fever” consume your school’s emergency planning. Best practice is the All-Hazards approach. Identify your local risks/threats, prepare for the identified risks/threats and mitigate against them. Practice for them and be ready to respond and recover from them.

School stabbings are more frequent than you would like to think. Make sure to include them in your school emergency planning.

Keep your eye on the big picture.

Filed Under: Safe Havens Blog, Stephen Satterly Tagged With: edged weapon, France, school, school attacks, School stabbing, school violence, teacher, Threat assessment