Mixed Feelings on Intruder Drills

Found out they are having an "Intruder Drill" today at my kids' school.  Essentially consists of pretending there is an intruder in the building and the emergency steps they go through. Having mixed feelixngs about it as I agree that in the case of such an incident training, especially for staff, could be crucial to survival, but not crazy about putting the fear into my kids (6yrold twins and 13yr old) that such a situation might happen when it is so highly unlikely. Wife is the secretary at the school, and the training nowadays is pretty different from what used to be taught. Creating havoc and fighting back is the tactic being taught nowadays.

oldpbnoob wrote: Makes me sad that we find this necessary to do.

Edited by agentwhale007 - 15 September 2011 at 1:54pm

But totally necessary.

And it isn't always the "badguys" you have to worry about. Having had limited first responder training I have to admit that it isn't nice doing these things, but it is good if everyone knows what do to. And practicing things full scale, on the clock is different from part practice.

Honestly? They should include it in fire drill and bomb drill. (Do you guys have those, or was that part of growing up in Africa in the 80's?) If they did it properly in, say the first month of term you could get them all done at once. Practice fire the first week, earthquake the next, active shooter the next and then bomb drills or something. Everyone would get used to it, practices would go smoother and shortcommings would be highlighted.

While we didn't have active shooter/intruder drills, we did have afore mentioned bomb drills and riot drills and honestly? I turned out ok. <twitch twitch>

As the saying goes, getting into a car crash is unlikely, yet we all wear belts and have insurance.....

I've experienced similar from both sides of the situation, active role player and monitor. It is sometimes scary how many holes are left open during an event.

Kayback wrote:  They should include it in fire drill and bomb drill. (Do you guys have those, or was that part of growing up in Africa in the 80's?)

mbro wrote: The post columbine drill when I was in school was: Turn Off Lights Lock the Door Everyone hide in the corner Put the number of people in the room on a piece of paper in an external window Leave everyone in the hallway to die alone and afraid.

same minus the list on the window

One of my instructors talked about this in a CJ class.  He made a good point that we spend time doing fire/tornado drills, yet how many students have died from those causes lately?  On other other hand, how many students die from violence from other students alone?  Just look at Detroit...

On top of that, videos have been found of terrorists practicing taking over a school.  I think something like that happened in Russia before.  The bottom line is that these kind of drills DO need to be done.  Clearly its a new world with new threats and we need to adjust accordingly.

Yomillio wrote: In my high school we did the standard lock the doors, shut off the lights, close the shades on the door windows (maybe limited to my school?), and huddle against the wall.

Same, except we close the blinds to the windows in the classroom too in case of an outside threat.

impulse418 wrote: Schools are Gun Free Zones. There should be no worry of a gunman.

Interestingly enough, the police sometimes participate in the lockdown at my school. They usually go around knocking on doors and stuff while its going on, and if the instructor opens the door they "fail."

Drills in my schools consisted of,