A local police chief is taking initiative when it comes to preventing mass casualties in school shootings.
The local chief says schools here have good plans for how to deal with attacks or intruders, and so do police departments.
His goal is to make sure those plans work together, he even wants to take his findings to Washington D.C.
“It's an issue we have to be concerned about, more repetitive and a lot more frequently,” stated Springettsbury Township Police Chief Thomas Hyers. Hyers would like it best if school shootings weren't a reality, but they are so he wants the county to be prepared.
“It's something you have to be responsible for and plan for,” Hyers told us.
For the past several weeks, particularly following the Sandy Hook Elementary shootings, he's been working with local superintendents, his officers and others to look at how they'd react if tragedy did strike there.
What he's found is the need for one consistent plan.
“Schools have their response strategy that is drawn up on board of education and academics, and law enforcement has theirs and it's different because it is a different set of expectations,” commented Hyers. “But you are still responding to same incident and there is no discussion between the two.”
One drill at Central York High has already taken place. It led to questions that they hope to answer in follow up meetings.
“How do you handle traffic getting in? Parents?” questioned Hyers. “Lock down or evacuate? Needs to be some open dialogue.”
Next month, Chief Hyers is taking his findings and possibly his template of mass response to Washington D.C. for a police executive research forum.
He says ideally the plan they come up with could also be applied to situations at places like the Harley-Davidson plant or a mall.
Of course, anything like this requires funding to pay for overtime and other costs. The chief is reaching out to everyone from local legislators to community leaders for help there.
The local chief says schools here have good plans for how to deal with attacks or intruders, and so do police departments.
His goal is to make sure those plans work together, he even wants to take his findings to Washington D.C.
“It's an issue we have to be concerned about, more repetitive and a lot more frequently,” stated Springettsbury Township Police Chief Thomas Hyers. Hyers would like it best if school shootings weren't a reality, but they are so he wants the county to be prepared.
“It's something you have to be responsible for and plan for,” Hyers told us.
For the past several weeks, particularly following the Sandy Hook Elementary shootings, he's been working with local superintendents, his officers and others to look at how they'd react if tragedy did strike there.
What he's found is the need for one consistent plan.
“Schools have their response strategy that is drawn up on board of education and academics, and law enforcement has theirs and it's different because it is a different set of expectations,” commented Hyers. “But you are still responding to same incident and there is no discussion between the two.”
One drill at Central York High has already taken place. It led to questions that they hope to answer in follow up meetings.
“How do you handle traffic getting in? Parents?” questioned Hyers. “Lock down or evacuate? Needs to be some open dialogue.”
Next month, Chief Hyers is taking his findings and possibly his template of mass response to Washington D.C. for a police executive research forum.
He says ideally the plan they come up with could also be applied to situations at places like the Harley-Davidson plant or a mall.
Of course, anything like this requires funding to pay for overtime and other costs. The chief is reaching out to everyone from local legislators to community leaders for help there.