By Diana Hefley, Eric Stevick and Krista J. Kapralos Herald Writers
No school can be made totally safe, the sheriff says, but officials and police are doing all they can.
The shooting massacre at a Virginia college on Monday was a sobering reminder to Snohomish County police and school authorities of their daunting task to protect students and staff in the face of unspeakable violence.
"No one is prepared for something like that. A school shooting is a nightmare. It's just a nightmare," Snohomish County Sheriff Rick Bart said. "We train and get ready as much as we can."
Police and school officials have taken numerous measures to improve security and their responses to emergencies at schools, Bart said.
"We're leaps ahead of where we were. There's more we need to do," he said.
After the killings in Colorado at Columbine High School in April 1999, police and firefighters re-evaluated their plans for responding to violence at public schools.
Police and firefighters now have access to digital floor plans and photographs of the county's high schools and middle schools.
Additional money has been secured to finish mapping the elementary schools.
Along with the mapping, emergency crews and school officials statewide have developed plans for responding to major incidents at schools, said Don Pierce, executive director of the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs.
They plan in advance where to evacuate students and where to set up command posts. Those locations are placed on the maps.
The mapping could prove critical in a hostage or shooting situation, Pierce said.
"It's important to note that all the mapping systems in the world aren't going to prevent something like this. It does enable a much better response," he said.
Colleges have not been included in the statewide mapping program.
Steve Robinson spent 30 years with the University of Washington police force, from which he retired as a captain. He joined Edmonds Community College four years ago as director of safety and security.
Campus security workers can plan better for fires, earthquakes, power outages and medical emergencies than a case like the Virginia Tech gunman, he said.
"One of the things that is difficult to understand is the person who commits these things picks the time and the place, and they usually don't advertise it," Robinson said.
On college campuses, there aren't the centralized intercom systems found in elementary, middle and high schools, and there are more buildings with easier access, he said.
"The senselessness that most of us feel about these kinds of acts cries for an answer, and there is no easy answer," Robinson said.
Everett Community College Vice President Michael Kerns said shootings, such as what happened in Virginia on Monday, are a reminder of the need to remain vigilant.
"What happened today at Virginia Tech was a tragedy," he said. "When those kinds of situations occur, we take a look at our emergency plans."
Not much money has been spent in Washington state on improving security at college campuses.
Some colleges might be getting money to improve safety as part of larger projects, but there don't seem to be large-scale budget requests to beef up security, said Kris Betker, a spokeswoman for the state Higher Education Coordinating Board.
"If you have all the money in the world, how could you make a college campus completely safe?" Betker said.
Making a campus safe is impossible once the bullets begin flying, Bart said.
Police officers train for "an active shooter" scenario when facing violence at a school.
In most situations, they are trained to surround a location and attempt to talk the suspect out. But a gunman on a campus or other public location can expect an immediate armed response by police, Bart said.
"Our mentality changed after Columbine. We never thought someone would go into a school and shoot someone," Bart said.
"Columbine made us rethink how we protect people when someone is actively hurting people," he said. "We're not going to stand by. We're going in."
Bart said he is pushing the state to establish funding for computer software similar to what the military uses.
The system uses computer text messages and global positioning system satellite technology to keep responders informed. It would allow police to better communicate with each other without using radios, which quickly are overwhelmed in major incidents, Bart said.
Legislation to provide first responders with the software died in committee this session.
However, approval is expected for a pilot program to improve communications among different police agencies from Snohomish County north to the Canadian border.
The move would come in preparation for the 2010 Winter Olympics in British Columbia.
School resource officers also can be invaluable, Bart said. He pointed to a 2002 incident at Lakewood High School where the school resource officer was able to quickly apprehend an armed student who took two other students and a teacher hostage.
School resource officers also can be critical in identifying problems before they escalate into violence, Bart said.
Breakouts of violence in schools may seem spontaneous, but most come after repeated threats and warnings, said Martin Speckmaier of Comprehensive School Safety LLC in Seattle.
Speckmaier, a retired Edmonds police detective, said teachers and students can play a key role in keeping schools safe.
"What's been discovered is that prior to a school or campus shooting, there was much knowable information that adults could have picked up on but either didn't pick up on it or didn't know how to share that information," Speckmaier said.
In 2002, the federal education department, with help from the federal Secret Service, issued the Safe School Initiative, which recommended that schools create a formal process for reporting and handling threats of violence.
Speckmaier and his company helped the Edmonds School District create protocols three years ago that connect students, teachers and administrators with local mental health professionals and law enforcement agencies.
Together, they're able to assess threats of violence and manage them before problems arise.
Skagit County is the first in the state to have a countywide program, Speckmaier said. He said Bart is considering a similar program for Snohomish County.
School violence has occurred more frequently in recent years, Speckmaier said.
"Unfortunately, we're living in a very violent society and culture," he said.
"What we're seeing with more and more frequency is people wanting to come onto school campuses or college campuses and try to take out as many people as they can.
"It's not unlike a video game, where you are awarded for increasing body count," he said.
How to help police
Observant witnesses can be vital in helping police stop violence.
Some information conveyed to police quickly can help them apprehend suspects:
·  How many suspects and what do the suspects look like?
·  Where was the last place the suspect was seen?
·  Is the suspect moving from room to room or is the suspect holed up in a room?
·  Does the suspect have more than one weapon?
·  Are there any hostages?
·  Is anyone injured?
Reporter Jerry Cornfield contributed to this report.
Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com