All around the country today, parents, especially, are not only schocked and saddened at the mass shooting that happened at the Newtown elementary school. They also wonder, "what if that happened here?"
The Northborough Police Department initiatied communication with Superintendent of Schools Charles Gobron shortly after the shooting occurred, and police visited each of the schools today to offer a sense of reassuring presense.
Lt. Bill Lyver said that Northborough is prepared to respond, should anything of that nature happen in town.
By law, each school is required to have an emergency response plan in place. Gobron addressed the community on Friday evening with an email that reiterates that plan.
"The police department has an all-hazards plan that addresses our response to a multitude of emergency situations," said Lyver. "Both would be covered by public records exemption 'N.'"
All Northborough officers, said Lyver, have access to a wide array of emergency response tactical equipment and weapons.
"We are very well equipped," he said, adding that all Northborough police personnel have trained with the State Police S.T.O.P. team (Special Tactical Operations Team) aka S.W.A.T., in active shooter deployment in the schools. This training includes drills in the school setting with “simunition” training ammunition against armed adversaries in a simulated school scenario.
There are two major communications methods that could be employed if the school department and/or police department needed to relay news quickly: ConnectEd through the school department, specifically targeting the school community/parents, and Reverse 911 through the police department.
"We also have access to Facebook, Twitter and Nixle," said Lyver. "The biggest hurdle is the immediate response of sufficient officers to contain and eliminate threats. As in Connecticut, agencies our size would require immediate mutual aid from surrounding communities and significant State Police resources."
A police response to an active shooting, particularly at a school, would be "rapid, forceful and focused on immediately locating and eliminating any threat to life and safety. After all, what good is a tactical plan that does not have a tactical advantage?"
Note: exemption 'N," referred to earlier, is: records including, but not limited to, blue prints, plans, policies, procedures and schematic drawings, which relate to internal layout and structural elements, security measures, emergency preparedness, threat or vulnerability assessments, or any other records relating to the security or safety of persons, buildings, structures, facilities, utilities, transportation or other infrastructure located within the commonwealth, the disclosure of which, in the reasonable judgment of the custodian, subject to review by the supervisor of public records under subsection (b) of section 10 of chapter 66, is likely to jeopardize public safety.