Page 20 - Campus Security Today, September/October 2023

BACK-TO-SCHOOL SECURITY decisions about strategies. School layout, staffing challenges, and training capabilities vary across the unique characteristics of schools and must all be considered when developing lockdown procedures. Once enacted, they need to be tested through lockdown drills to ensure faculty, staff, and students know exactly what to do in an emergency. From there, protocols and drills will need to be regularly re-evaluated to make sure they address variables that can impact their effectiveness. K–12 LOCKDOWN DECISIONS: CENTRALIZED OR DECENTRALIZED? Traditionally, there have been two types of lockdowns: Centralized Decision with Universal Application or Decentralized Decision with Local Application. The centralized approach occurs when a decision is made from a single location to lock all doors campus-wide instantly with a push of a button that activates electrified locks. This works well for perimeter doors of schools outfitted with electronic access control (EAC) locks that are hard-wired or have been installed using a real- time wireless EAC solution. Most classrooms, however, still rely on mechanical locks that a teacher needs to manually secure with a key. The downside of the centralized decision/universal applica- tion is it lacks situational awareness in each classroom and corridor. This is why security and law enforcement professionals warn that this approach can actually escalate risks through unintended con- sequences where students might end up stranded and exposed in a corridor or unable to get back into a classroom or other secure area quickly. Balancing the risks with the benefits is what school leaders and stakeholders need to consider carefully. Decentralized Decision with Local Application allows each teacher to decide whether to evacuate or lock their own door based on their situational awareness and options. The main benefit is it allows teachers to make intelligent decisions based on their direct surroundings and circumstances. Security professionals most often suggest an application- appropriate solution or hybrid of these two lockdown choices: the centralized route to cover the perimeter of buildings and property combined with the decentralized option for interior doors that gives faculty and staff the added autonomy to respond to events first-hand. Fundamental solutions are also important, like newer me- chanical locks that allow doors to be locked by key or thumbturn from inside as well as outside the classroom. Thankfully, these are now quickly replacing older hardware that could only be locked from the hall side. The inclusion of visual status indicators goes one step further to make it easy for staff and students to quickly confirm whether a door is locked. States like Texas are moving toward installing a silent panic alert button in every K–12 classroom that can be activated by a device manually or through a software application when there’s a life-threatening emergency. Additional steps to impede an attacker from breaching school entrances is another important component. As part of its School Safety Standards Rules released last November, the Texas Education Agency mandated that “Windowed doors on the ground level or windows adjacent to or near a door and large enough for some- one to enter if broken must be reinforced with entry-resistant film unless within a secured area.” It’s not a new solution, but it is one that’s been overlooked in the past. Hardening glass on all exterior door vision panels and sidelites with security window film can be extremely effective in delaying a break-in. The goal is to deter the intruder long enough to alert first responders and activate lockdown protocols. The higher-tier the film is, the more resistant it will be. Ballistic security glass is another option. While more practical to install and budget for new construction, it’s also sensible for security measures like visitor screening vestibules at key main entry points. Bollards, fences, video surveillance, license plate recognition (LPR), and remote-controlled gates for controlling traffic coming onto K–12 campuses provide another layer of perimeter protec- tion that should be considered when planning school safety and security lockdown protocols. PASS GUIDELINES FOR K–12 LOCKDOWN STRATEGIES The Partner Alliance for Safer Schools (PASS) offers excellent safety and security guidelines for K–12 schools and recently released its 6th Edition. Along with a detailed, layered, and tiered approach covering the full gamut of best practices, the guidelines include important recommendations on lockdown strategies and how to design and conduct lockdown drills. Information on access control systems equipped with remote lockdown capabilities are also among the PASS Guidelines—as are cross corridor doors that can automatically be activated to confine an emergency to a limited area of the building. LOCKDOWN STRATEGIES FOR HIGHER EDUCATION Unlike K–12 school campuses, colleges and universities stretch across considerably larger and much more open landscapes. They also often accommodate student bodies in the tens of thousands and “” “ALL STUDENTS NEED REASSURANCE THAT MEASURES ARE IN PLACE TO HELP PROTECT THEIR SAFETY, SECURITY, AND WELLNESS. ALL THREE ARE ESSENTIAL AND INTERRELATED. ” 20