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Securing schools takes more than police

It seems that while most of the national discussion about making schools safer from mass shootings is focused on security installations, school security, police and the naivete of enhanced gun control. Even in a week in which a criminal with no agenda terrorizes a major American city with bombs that virtually anyone could make.

The focus on hardening facilities is a distraction from what really needs to happen. As we’ve recently learned, many threatening individuals are well known to friends, authorities and even law enforcement. The truth is, though, that within existing systems, there is often very little these institutions can do in the case of a potential reported threats. They are, after all, just potential threats and there are legal limitation to what can be done.

What is preferable is a strategy to address how to handle reports of individuals who exhibit signs of being a danger to others – one that works better than the one we have in place, if the example in South Florida is any example. Who does one call if one’s neighbor, friend or even one’s own child is demonstrating signs of being a danger to others? What then can some authority do in that case?

These things need to be asked and addressed. Today’s debate over school safety is over-focused on other aspects. How does gun control protect students leaving school en masse at a fixed time every day – particularly from assailants using vehicles or – as recently seen – home-made explosives?

Instead, it seems more productive to ID potential threats for close observation.

Clearly securing schools from threats takes a holistic approach. Let’s not permit politics to take the emphasis off that reality. The risk is simply too great.

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