thedrifter
10-04-06, 08:08 AM
10/04/2006
Expert rips security at U.S. schools
John Roman , Of the Times Staff
The fatal shootings of five girls and wounding of five others at an Amish schoolhouse in Lancaster County and fatal hostage incident at a high school in Colorado focus on the urgent need for better security, an anti-terrorism expert said Tuesday.
"We are long past the point where we can continue to ignore the increasing attacks on our children in our schools," said John Giduck, a 1977 Sun Valley High School graduate, Penn State graduate and author of "Terror at Beslan: A Russian Tragedy with Lessons for America’s Schools."
"Whether you’re a trained Islamist terrorist or a (Dylan) Klebold and (Eric) Harris, the two that shot up Columbine (High School), or like these two recent adult hostage takers and murderers, you all have the same terrorist mind set," he said.
Giduck assisted law enforcement in Bailey, Colo., helping evaluate the Sept. 27 incident in which Duane Morrison, 53, took six girls hostage at Platte Canyon High, sexually assaulted them and used them as human shields for hours before fatally shooting one girl and killing himself.
"As terrible as these things are, if police are not learning from each of them, then they’re unprepared for the next incident and then truly those children have died in vain," Giduck said.
Addressing the psychological and emotional issues in the aftermath of an incident is just one part of the problem.
"If you deal with the fundamental problem of first making the school secure, then you don’t have to deal with the ancillary problem of the aftermath issues," Giduck said.
"If the schools are secure, children are not dying and by virtue of that, you don’t have to deal with the psychological aftermath," he said.
In his book on the Beslan school siege by Chechen terrorists in Russia on Sept. 1, 2004, involving 1,200 hostages, Giduck listed a broad range of tactics that can be implemented in schools for better security.
However, he said, U.S. schools just haven’t reached the point "where the threat to our children has been seen as great enough to justify committing all the money necessary to address it.
He questioned how trillions of dollars can be committed to the Department of Homeland Security and Transportation Security Administration inspectors at airports because of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, without recognizing "the sheer magnitude of that threat to our schools - really we’ve done nothing.
"We are a nation that has all the money it needs once we decide the problem is important enough," Giduck said.
In addition to school student shooters and adults attacking schools in America, terrorists have attacked hundreds of schools around the world from Israel to Russia and Turkey.
Among his suggestions for better security at America’s schools --as cited in his book --are deploying armed fire teams in every school with at least three men, preferably former Green Berets, SEALs, Force Recon Marines or Rangers.
He also cited school security systems that automatically shut down solid metal doors and lock internal/external doors throughout the school when an alarm is activated.
However, he pointed out such systems are expensive and questioned whether we are ready to spend the money. "If not, what will it take?" he asked.
"Ultimately, in my opinion, this issue cannot be addressed by any school if they do not at least start with one armed school resource officer with an assault rifle, a sidearm, bulletproof armor and adequate ammunition," Giduck said.
"And there has to be adequate funding for that officer to be in the school every minute the school has children present," he said.
Ellie
Expert rips security at U.S. schools
John Roman , Of the Times Staff
The fatal shootings of five girls and wounding of five others at an Amish schoolhouse in Lancaster County and fatal hostage incident at a high school in Colorado focus on the urgent need for better security, an anti-terrorism expert said Tuesday.
"We are long past the point where we can continue to ignore the increasing attacks on our children in our schools," said John Giduck, a 1977 Sun Valley High School graduate, Penn State graduate and author of "Terror at Beslan: A Russian Tragedy with Lessons for America’s Schools."
"Whether you’re a trained Islamist terrorist or a (Dylan) Klebold and (Eric) Harris, the two that shot up Columbine (High School), or like these two recent adult hostage takers and murderers, you all have the same terrorist mind set," he said.
Giduck assisted law enforcement in Bailey, Colo., helping evaluate the Sept. 27 incident in which Duane Morrison, 53, took six girls hostage at Platte Canyon High, sexually assaulted them and used them as human shields for hours before fatally shooting one girl and killing himself.
"As terrible as these things are, if police are not learning from each of them, then they’re unprepared for the next incident and then truly those children have died in vain," Giduck said.
Addressing the psychological and emotional issues in the aftermath of an incident is just one part of the problem.
"If you deal with the fundamental problem of first making the school secure, then you don’t have to deal with the ancillary problem of the aftermath issues," Giduck said.
"If the schools are secure, children are not dying and by virtue of that, you don’t have to deal with the psychological aftermath," he said.
In his book on the Beslan school siege by Chechen terrorists in Russia on Sept. 1, 2004, involving 1,200 hostages, Giduck listed a broad range of tactics that can be implemented in schools for better security.
However, he said, U.S. schools just haven’t reached the point "where the threat to our children has been seen as great enough to justify committing all the money necessary to address it.
He questioned how trillions of dollars can be committed to the Department of Homeland Security and Transportation Security Administration inspectors at airports because of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, without recognizing "the sheer magnitude of that threat to our schools - really we’ve done nothing.
"We are a nation that has all the money it needs once we decide the problem is important enough," Giduck said.
In addition to school student shooters and adults attacking schools in America, terrorists have attacked hundreds of schools around the world from Israel to Russia and Turkey.
Among his suggestions for better security at America’s schools --as cited in his book --are deploying armed fire teams in every school with at least three men, preferably former Green Berets, SEALs, Force Recon Marines or Rangers.
He also cited school security systems that automatically shut down solid metal doors and lock internal/external doors throughout the school when an alarm is activated.
However, he pointed out such systems are expensive and questioned whether we are ready to spend the money. "If not, what will it take?" he asked.
"Ultimately, in my opinion, this issue cannot be addressed by any school if they do not at least start with one armed school resource officer with an assault rifle, a sidearm, bulletproof armor and adequate ammunition," Giduck said.
"And there has to be adequate funding for that officer to be in the school every minute the school has children present," he said.
Ellie