9.5.24 – KOCO –OKLAHOMA CITY
School districts in Oklahoma are evaluating security after a deadly shooting at a Georgia school, but experts said the best defense against threats isn’t new technology.
Experts said when it comes down to it, the most important thing in preventing another mass shooting is making sure staff and students know what to do if something is off.
“When security works, it’s because of people. When it fails, it’s because of people,” said Ken Trump, with National School Safety and Security Services.
Trump said he’s been part of litigation stemming from some of the country’s worst school shootings, including those in Parkland, Florida, and the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut.
He said having a school resource officer at the Georgia school where Wednesday’s mass shooting took place saved lives.
“The good news is they had school resources officers on scene, law enforcement was immediately there,” Trump said.
Georgia law enforcement officials said teachers at the high school had IDs that alert law enforcement during an active incident, a new safety feature implemented just one week ago.
However, Trump warns against other districts jumping on that same new technology.
“While it may help in one incident, it may not help in the next,” Trump said. “It’s very dangerous to make knee-jerk policy changes, procedural changes, or new purchases of shiny objects that we want to give us a security blanket, an emotional security fix.”
He said the best and first line of defense is training students and staff to be on alert for anything suspicious.
“The bottom line is see something, say something. But also train people on how to do something once someone speaks up,” Trump said.
Oklahoma City Public Schools Security Director Wayland Cubit is also aware of that importance.
In addition to more training for staff and adding school resource officers, the district is also keeping an extra eye on our schools.
Cubit showed KOCO 5 where they monitor more than 5,000 cameras watching over OKCPS schools.
“Well, it allows us a great amount of confidence that we’re identifying problems before they come up. So that we can deal with them. That’s unsecure doors, unauthorized visitors that may come onto the scene, suspicious vehicles,” Cubit said.
Experts also stress the importance of training for these situations, so people know what to do before there’s an active threat.