Page 52 - Security Today, May/June 2020

“Policies and procedures that aim to facilitate streamlined lockdowns are essential in today’s campus environments.”
By Eric Widlitz
Titikul_B/Shutterstock.com
Facility Security
Striking a Balance
LS
ockdowns 101: Learning the best practices for training protocols and access control
triking a delicate balance between security and func- tionality has always been a challenging objective for school administrators, who have to consider several factors in an attempt to make this possible. The ease by which students venture across a campus through-
tial in achieving this goal, but in many instances, these aren’t enough. A National Center for Education Statistics study in 2015-2016 asked schools whether they had drilled students during the current school year on the use of selected emergency procedures. About 95 percent of schools had drilled students on a lockdown procedure, 92 percent on evacuation procedures and 76 percent on shelter-in-place
procedures.
Despite the fact that this study was conducted three years ago, the
number of students experiencing these drills was quite high. What’s missing is more information on how these occur, best practices and their effects on response and preparedness of actual incidents.
out a school day coupled with the concern for safety and well-being can make this a daunting task.
And this is especially true in the event of an incident: school secu- rity staff must identify the best possible way to comprehensively secure the facility in a moment’s notice. A combination of policies and procedures that help guide educational institutions can be essen-
8 campuslifesecurity.com | MAY/JUNE 2020