Chief of Police/Executive Director of Security and Technology - Galena Park ISD Gives Presentation on Campus Security

Active shooter incidents are not new.

On August 1, 1966 on the UT campus in Austin, Texas, after killing his mother and his wife, Charles Whitmore brought a truck of weapons and ammunition to the U.T. and took the elevator to the 27th floor of the tower. After killing workers and visitors inside the tower he began firing into the courtyard at 11:45 a.m.  90 minutes later Patrolman Ramiro Martinez and Houston McCoy stormed the tower. Officer Ramiro was able to end the attack by shooting Whitmore.  When it was all over, 15 people were killed and 31 were wounded.

In 1983, a new phrase entered our vocabulary, "Going Postal",  after several Postal Service (USPS) workers shot and killed managers, fellow workers, and members of the police or general public in acts of mass murder.  Between 1986 and 1997, more than forty people were gunned down by active shooters in at least twenty incidents of workplace rage.

But the violence was not just by the adults.  In 1998 two boys, 11 and 13, in Jonesboro, AR killed 5 of their classmates and wounded 10 others. One young man pulled the fire alarm and then joined his friend in the neighboring woods where they opened fire on teachers and students.

And then the incident that changed how law enforcement responds to these incidents took place.  On April 20, 1999 in Littleton, Colorado two teenagers attacked Columbine High School. They had planted explosive devices, which failed, and they went on a rampage killing 15 and wounding 23 others. The shooting started at 11:19 a.m. and did not end until 12:08 p.m. Police were notified at 11:22 a.m. A campus officer responded and was fired at as he exited his vehicle.  He returned fire from 60 yards away.  Officers arrived and exchanged gunfire with the second shooter.  At 11:30 a.m. the two teenagers entered the library and began shooting. 

The shooting continued until they killed themselves at 12:08 p.m. Police did not enter the library until 3:22 p.m.  The thought at that time was to contain the situation and wait on tactical teams to arrive.  The officers responded the way that they had been trained.  A review of Columbine led to different tactics and what is now known as Active Shooter response:

• Active-shooter incidents often occur in small and medium size communities where police departments are limited by budget constraints and small workforces.
• The average active-shooter incident lasts 12 minutes. One-third, last less than 5 minutes.
• Overwhelmingly, the offender is a single shooter (98 percent) and primarily male (97 percent). In 40 percent of the instances, they kill themselves.
• Only Two percent of the shooters bring IED's as an additional weapon.
• 43 percent of the time, the crime is over before police arrive. In 57 percent of the shootings, an officer arrives while the shooting is still underway.
• The shooter often stops as soon as he hears or sees law enforcement, sometimes turning his anger or aggression on law enforcement. They are not prepared for confrontation.
• Patrol officers are most likely responding alone or with a partner. When responding alone, 75 percent had to take action.
• A third of those officers who enter the incident alone are shot by the intruder.

In an active shooter situation our officers have only one objective: Go to the killing and stop the killing. Period.

"In the Galena Park ISD, train for this.  We use live fire weapons that shoot "simunitions" which are non-lethal. They hurt!" stated Mr. Clements.

In May the district conducted a live exercise during the school day that simulated an active shooter event. It was a good test of school law enforcement response together with other responding law enforcement and emergency services.   "The planning for this event allowed us to build relationships with the different agencies that would respond to our schools in the event of an emergency" said Clements. "We learned what our strengths and our weaknesses were".

There is always a sense that it can’t happen here.

• There have been 31 school shootings since Columbine.
• Shootings have occurred in little know places such as Lakeworth, Fl, Bidwell, OH, Santee, CA, Gary, IN, Red Lion, PA, Coldspring, MN, Essex VT and Newtown, CT.

The alarming factor in recent active shooter events is the "kill rate".  The kill rate refers to the number people killed or shot, per minute, during an active killer attack.

• Event Kill Rate (People murdered or shot Per Minute)
• Texas Tower 0.45 (45 over 100 minutes)
• Columbine 0.73 (36 over 49 minutes)
• VA Tech 4.80 (53 over 11 minutes)
• Aurora Theatre 46.6 (70 over 90 seconds)

People ask, "What can we do to prevent these tragedies?

• You can do everything right and still suffer loss.
• Evil people intent on doing evil things will find a way to do them.
• We have the responsibility to do everything we can to keep our children safe.
• I also believe that we should not be surprised at the level of violence when our children are inundated with it daily. We have made it into entertainment.

In America, police deal with real crime every day in our schools and communities. Drug possession, theft, assault, counterfeiting.  "Our schools are a reflection of our community and, in fact, are a type of community themselves" says Clements.  When school is in session, North Shore High School is larger than three-fourths of the cities in Texas and Galena Park High School is larger than two-thirds of the cities in the state.  In fact, everyone one of the schools in the district have the dynamics of a full functioning city.

Mr. Clements stated that there are steps that can and must be taken to minimize the threat and prevent these types of active shooter events in our schools.  They include:

• Supplementing local law enforcement.
• Getting to know our kids personally by creating and fostering positive relationships.
• Learn about and conduct specific additional training such as active shooter, CPI – nonviolent crisis intervention and emergency operations training.
• Promote training and collaboration with neighboring law enforcement agencies.
• Invite our neighbors to train with us.
• Have specific expectations regarding collaboration.
• Promote planning, education, training and data sharing.
• Training – standardized.
• Plan, conduct drills and involve community partners.

Within the Galena Park ISD, Bryan Clements and countless others within the school district are doing these things and continually searching for ways to reduce the potential of an active shooter incident occurring in our schools and our community.