School Shooting Response Preparedness

There were 346 school shooting incidents across the U.S. in 2023. That’s almost one per day. Not only have school shootings increased, but the number of fatalities has climbed as well. 

Most security officers don’t expect a shooting to occur at their school. No dispatcher wants to receive that 9-1-1 call. But with the increasing rate of shootings, PSAPs and law enforcement need an effective school incident response plan to reduce the injuries and fatalities of students – one of our most vulnerable populations.

A well-devised plan should include reliable communication systems, clear delineation of roles and responsibilities, thorough standard operating procedures and collaboration with key organizations across the community. The right technologies can help with all of the above, including the rapid and accurate relay of information. 

When it comes to public safety and emergency response, every minute matters. With lives at stake, don’t allow your school or 9-1-1 center to be dependent on inefficient systems and outdated technology. Let the latest technology in public safety help you improve dispatching and the dissemination of critical information.

Importance of Technology in School Shooting Preparedness

Advancements in technology have improved the efficiency of emergency response, making it a modern necessity for public safety agencies. This includes solutions like computer-aided dispatch systems, CAD-to-CAD networks and NG911 communication platforms.

With these tools, you can provide maps of high-risk sites like schools, collaborate with other institutions, disseminate information swiftly, centralize critical information and even integrate other systems like RapidSOS. 

With CAD-to-CAD interoperability, calls can be transferred to a neighboring county during mass casualty incidents. This allows for a smooth transfer of information between jurisdictions, enhancing response efficiency. Other benefits include saving time (2–3 minutes per dispatch), bi-directional data-sharing with public safety and community organizations, and advanced location and recommendation capabilities (regardless of jurisdiction).

Modern technology provides numerous improvements to emergency response, which we could discuss at length. In the rest of this article, however, we’ll focus specifically on how you can use an advanced CAD system for school safety planning.

Key Components of School Safety Planning

In a webinar with CentralSquare, the Communication Chief at the Rolla Missouri Police Department explained how her agency used a CAD system to improve school shooting preparedness. 

Community Partnerships

When creating a school safety plan, 9-1-1 centers should establish collaborative relationships with schools and hospitals. These partnerships are mutually beneficial. They help each entity understand its role during an emergency, as well as what to expect from each other. 

For example, in the first several minutes of an active shooter incident, an ECCs first goal is stopping the threat. That means prioritizing communication with law enforcement and those with the newest information. If multiple teachers call 9-1-1 in a panic, the dispatcher may need to hang up on them. So school leaders need to prepare their teachers, reminding them not to call unless they have critical information.

Similarly, hospital staff need to know your PSAPs capabilities during a mass casualty incident. Initially, if your resources are focused on stopping the threat, then hospital leadership may need to call adjoining counties or helicopters. Understanding your agency’s limitations frees hospitals to develop and refine their protocols. 

During a mass shooting, some PSAPs may not have the resources to contact individuals like they would during a routine call. But with an advanced CAD system, you can create large personnel groups for hospitals and schools that will be notified of an emergency immediately.

To create these groups, you need to meet with hospital staff and school leaders. Who will be included on these lists? For a school, it will likely include principals, administrators, transportation, athletics, etc. For a hospital, it could include ER staff, emergency management, ambulatory services and hospital security.

School principals and resource officers may prioritize law enforcement in the safety planning process, unintentionally excluding ECCs. You can change that in your community. By creating an ongoing collaborative relationship with school leaders, you can delineate responsibilities, maximize your technology’s capabilities, and request critical resources like maps and floor plans.

Active Shooter Incident Codes

Dispatchers are well trained professionals, but responding to a mass shooting incident creates a lot of stress.

Depending on the CAD system, you may be able to create a unique incident code for active shooter situations. The code can be associated with a set of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to guide dispatchers through the crucial steps in an active shooter scenario. This gives dispatchers a clear roadmap during high-stress situations. Key steps and reminders could include the following:

• Remember to broadcast on all of our channels
• Page overhead to alert command staff who may not have a radio on hand
• Send an active shooter page/notification to hospital and school personnel

Floor Plans

During a shooting, dispatchers and first responders need common reference points to coordinate a strategic and timely school incident response. Floor plans are an ideal solution, assuming dispatchers, law enforcement and EMTs all have access to the same map.

With the right CAD product, you can attach floor plans for every local school to the respective address card. This allows dispatchers and first responders to access the building layout on any device, from any location. 

The use of floor plans extends beyond schools to other high-risk locations like shopping malls, office buildings and hospitals. With complex layouts and numerous interior rooms, visual mapping of these locations gives responders invaluable insight into spaces they may be unfamiliar with. By adding these floor plans into your CAD system, you provide life-saving and time-saving information to dispatchers and law enforcement.

Paging System

An advanced CAD system lets you page large personnel groups (within hospitals and schools) quickly. During a school shooting, for instance, a page can be sent to a group comprised of principals, administrators, transportation and athletics staff. The initial notification acts as a warning, allowing staff to begin their response plan, like safely evacuating students. 

Implementing a paging system lets your 9-1-1 center notify key personnel without having to make time-consuming calls. In other words, your team can focus on its top priorities: eliminating the threat and helping patients.

Contact Information

To set up a paging system in your CAD, you’ll need to create “contact cards” for all personnel. Of course, these people aren’t your employees as an ECC director, so you’ll need to coordinate with your points of contact (POC) at the hospital and schools. Each contact requires a phone number and email address, and your POCs will need to verify that each person received a text and email notification. 

Although adding these contact details requires some work and coordination upfront, it’s worth the effort. It could save lives one day. After the initial work, you only have to keep the contact info current. This can be as simple as a quarterly or bi-annual form/email, and it can be delegated to one or two of your employees.

Group Creation

Once contact details are gathered, you need to create a group in your CAD. One group could be school staff. Another could be hospital staff. It’s important to set expectations, instructing these groups not to call dispatch to prevent system overload. Instead, they should adhere to their school’s safety plan, trusting that your PSAP will provide updates as soon as possible. It’s also advisable to have them sign a confidentiality agreement to ensure all school safety plans are used exclusively for emergencies.

Message Type

Now you need to establish a paging message type. These messages should include basic information like the location and initial dispatcher comments. Personal identifiers or sensitive information should be excluded. Dispatchers are not required to add anything to the message, as the system should automatically populate the necessary details – assuming you’re using an advanced system like CentralSquare CAD.

Information Dissemination

Hopefully, you never have to complete this step. But in the event of an active shooter, you would need to distribute the page. With the right CAD system like CentralSquare, you can complete this in a couple clicks and keystrokes. Watch the webinar now for a walkthrough of this process.

How to Get Started

Adopting advanced technology, like CentralSquare’s CAD system, can save time and save lives. School safety preparedness comes down to proactive planning. Develop collaborative relationships with your local schools and hospitals and consider adopting a technology solution that allows you to do everything above:

• Create unique active shooter incident codes
• Attach the floor plans of high risk locations to address cards
• Implement a paging system that notifies key personnel about emergencies
• Dispatch the most appropriate unit to an incident, regardless of jurisdiction
• And more

Everyone is busy. It can be easy to push off school safety planning, assuming it won’t happen to your community. But that’s what everyone thinks until it does. It’s better to be prepared.

Schedule a discovery call today to learn how our CAD system and Unify (CAD-to-CAD) can help your agency plan for something that hopefully never happens.