Comprehensive School and Workplace Safety, LLC - Security - Intervention - Prevention

National Student Assistance Conference

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 21:34:05 -0800

Martin Speckmaier will be a presenter at the 20^th Annual National Student Assistance Conference “A Paradigm for Prevention” on March 3^rd, 2008 in Newport Beach, CA. “Strength From Within: Utilizing Threat Assessment Teams in K-20 Campus Settings” is Martin's empowering presentation which demystifies threat assessment and shows school community stakeholders how to effectively reconnect disenfranchised students! Please visit www.NSAC.info for conference details.

Call Comprehensive School Safety today (206-853-2593) to schedule Martin's presentation at your K-12 or K-20 school campus setting.

Threat Assessment Teams in the K-20 Campus Setting

Fri, 15 Jun 2007 12:09:37 -0700

How to Utilize Existing Strengths to Keep Your Campus Safe

Martin Speckmaier, Managing Member of Comprehensive School & Workplace Safety, LLC will be presenting at the Washington State K-20 School Safety Forum June 18-19, 2007. Held at the Greater Tacoma Convention and Trade Center, “Developing Safety Plans that Promote Violence Prevention” is an opportunity for Washington State educators to hear from national and local leaders in school safety and violence prevention in our schools.

In his presentation, Speckmaier will discuss Threat Assessment Teams, an inter-disciplinary, multi-agency approach of working with at-risk youth in schools and the importance of connecting school district with community college and/or university threat assessment team processes. Speckmaier will focus on plausible solutions to common barriers and best practices for the utilizing a threat assessment process. He will address the types of threats educators must be prepared for and current issues facing students today. Topics will also include Washington State Threat Notification Law, FERPA, the Clery Act, Safe School Initiative, Tarasoff Warning, HIPAA, and LEU records.

Are Schools Ready for a Crisis?

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 15:13:19 -0700

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

Shootings Raise Security Questions at Local Campuses

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 15:06:30 -0700

07:39 AM PDT on Tuesday, April 17, 2007
By CHRIS DANIELS / KING 5 News and Wire Reports
SEATTLE - In the wake of yesterday's horrific carnage at Virginia Tech, security patrols have been stepped up at University of Washington and Seattle University. Officials say they are seeking to reassure their students of their safety, but the shootings also raise questions on how secure our local campuses are.
At the University of Washington, all available campus officers and extra police officer were out on patrol. The Department has about 50 commissioned officers. And at Seattle University, officers from the Seattle Police Department were stationed outside the main entrance while the private university's 19-strong private, unarmed security force also stepped up campus patrols.
But officials at both schools say it's virtually impossible to secure any campus with so many buildings.
Every American college campus will be asking several crucial questions over the coming days.
"Is there an evacuation, or shelter in pace, if there is a lockdown? They need to understand what to do if there is an active shooter on the campus," said Martin Speckmaier, school safety consultant.
UW officials say it does have a phone trail and e-mail system to lock down the campus. It a system tested just two weeks ago when a man killed a 26-year-old employee at the College of Architecture.
"It's a difficult challenge because universities and colleges pride themselves on an open environment," said Vicki Stormo, UW Police Chief.
Local Virginia Tech alumni say they always felt safe at the Blacksburg campus, but those vulnerabilities were exposed Monday over the course of a few hours.
"Blacksburg is such a sweet quite town, where this school is and it's a beautiful campus - to think of horrible things happening there," said Cindy Blacksburg, Virginia Tech alumni.
"It's one of those places where people from big cities send their kids because it's that type of safe environment," said Marcus Jenkins, Virginia Tech alumni.
Seattle University has been working a on a program to install plainclothes marshals in each campus building. Undoubtedly all our local campuses will be examining security policies in the days and weeks ahead.
The Associated Press contributed to this report

Washington's First County-Wide Threat Assessment Team

Fri, 12 Jan 2007 14:19:45 -0800

School Safety
By JENNIFER CARTER, Staff Writer
Skagit County Herald, January 8, 2007Following the fatal shooting of a student at a Tacoma high school last week, Skagit County educators are seeking to reassure parents and students with information about local efforts to prevent school violence.
In fact, Skagit County has the state’s first county-wide system for identifying and responding to threats of violence at school.
The program, launched last year, brings together school officials, law enforcement and mental health experts to evaluate threats and work with students to minimize the risk of violence.
Research shows that such a multi-disciplinary team approach to identifying, assessing and managing students who may present a risk is the best way to prevent actual violence, said Martin Speckmaier, a school safety consultant and retired police officer.
“School violence is not a school problem. It’s a community problem.” said Speckmaier, who has been involved with training members of the Skagit County assessment teams.
Bringing the resources and judgment of law enforcement, mental health professionals and school administrators together gives everyone a more complete picture of a student’s life and situation, said Dave Shackleton, a Mount Vernon Police school resource officer at Mount Vernon High School.
“Everybody comes to the table with what they know,” said Shackleton, a member of the school’s safety assessment team. “The goal is, how do we safely keep everybody in school.”

Since last school year, each school building in the county has had a trained safety assessment team to evaluate threats and determine how to manage students who make them.
The teams include representatives from all seven school districts, all nine law enforcement agencies as well as county mental health professionals.
This school year saw the creation of the first county-wide safety assessment team in the state. The group of experts is available to all Skagit County schools.
The program is funded through a three-year federal Safe Schools/Healthy Students grant to Northwest Educational Service District (ESD) 189, which provides support services for 35 school districts in northwest Washington. The multidisciplinary approach is also what experts recommend for preventing school violence, Speckmaier said.
In the wake of school shootings in the late 1990s, experts from the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Secret Service teamed up to study so-called “targeted” violence in schools, in which students plan and prepare for violent attacks at school.

The study group’s primary conclusion was that schools need a unified team approach to assessing threats so the burden doesn’t fall entirely on school administrators, who may not have access to all the information about a student’s personal and home life and mental health, Speckmaier said.

Identifying threats

A key component of the program is a county-wide School Safety Help Line, launched last school year. The line is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
It’s another way that better communication can help reduce the risk of violence, said Dave Ahrenholz, a prevention center coordinator for the ESD, which headed up the creation of the county-wide system last year.
Other students often see the warning signs before school violence occurs, he said.
“The other kids will know things, but they won’t tell anybody,” Ahrenholz said.
“They don’t want to get anyone in trouble or, if it’s a bullying situation, they’re afraid.”
But to prevent violence, Ahrenholz said, schools need students and parents with concerns about potential threats to report their worries. Flyers and refrigerator magnets with the number have been distributed to all students in Skagit County schools, according to the ESD.
Representatives from Volunteers of America Care Crisis Response Services answer the line and respond based on their assessment of the seriousness of the threat.
If a caller reports criminal activity, the help line representative calls 911. Mental health counselors are available for callers with mental health problems. Each call generates a report that goes to the ESD, the school district and the school.
As with the county-wide assessment teams, it’s also the only county-wide school safety help line in the state, Speckmaier said.
The county-wide system also means that when a student who makes a threat at one school shows up at another school, there’s a system in place to notify staff to be on the lookout for potential risks.
“That’s how this process was intended to work,” Speckmaier said.

School Safety Help Line 1-800-585-3109

Seattle Times Article on January 10, 2007

Fri, 12 Jan 2007 13:58:11 -0800

Ensuring safety in the schools

By Lynn Thompson
Times Snohomish County bureau
In the wake of the shooting death of a Tacoma high-school student last week, local educators and law-enforcement officials say violence in schools can't be eliminated. But schools can be made safer, they say, if school staff respond as a team to assess potential threats and provide support to at-risk youth.

"The most important thing a school can do is create a climate of trust and open communication. It's surprising how often that's overlooked," said Martin Speckmaier, a private-security consultant and a 22-year veteran of the Edmonds Police Department who patrolled Edmonds-Woodway High School as a school-resource officer for seven years.

Speckmaier noted that incidents involving guns at school are rare, in part because bringing a firearm to school results in a mandatory one-year suspension under state law. Most Snohomish County districts had none or one gun seized at schools in 2005-06, according to statistics from the Office of Superintendent for Public Instruction (OSPI).

But knives and other weapons were seized at a rate of about two a day in county schools, often in the largest districts. Everett had 74 incidents involving knives or other weapons, while Marysville and Northshore each had 60.

The Edmonds School District bucked the trend with only 14 incidents involving weapons last school year.

But Speckmaier cautioned against putting labels of "dangerous" on schools with higher incidents of weapons. A school may be more vigilant or alert to possible weapons, which may explain why they turn up more often, he said. And he said weapons go unreported at every school.

But Speckmaier also noted an alarming trend in teenage-death statistics. While car accidents still kill the most teenagers each year, homicide is now the No. 2 cause of death among older teens, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. And he said the number of juvenile homicides with multiple victims also is increasing.

That's where school-threat response teams and safety planning come in.

After the Columbine shooting in 1999 that left 14 students and a teacher dead, the federal government developed a threat-assessment model that is now being implemented by Snohomish County schools. Under the model, schools create a team to identify, assess and manage students or situations that pose a threat of violence.

In Washington, OSPI has sponsored statewide training on the approach, which calls for school personnel, including administrators, counselors, psychologists, police and security officers to meet together and evaluate a threat. In some communities, mental-health and juvenile-justice professionals also are brought in to help evaluate and provide assistance to at-risk youth.

"The focus is on helping kids succeed. Most aren't hard-core psychopaths. They're kids stumbling who need support," said Craig Apperson, supervisor of safety and security for OSPI.

Edmonds School District adopted the threat-assessment model three years ago, said Jan Beglau, manager of student support and outreach for the district. Anytime a student threatens to act violently, the school team meets to devise a response plan and get ongoing monitoring and support for the student.

It might mean checking a student's backpack every day, or assigning an adult mentor, Beglau said. Parents also are brought into the confidential discussions, she said.

"The process is designed to identify underlying issues, to get at the root of what's causing the threats and give the kids a support system." But she cautioned that the motives for violence are often complex and hard to predict.

"If we knew why kids turned to violence, we wouldn't have any shootings," she said.

In Marysville, Assistant Superintendent Gail Miller said several of the gun incidents in the district last year involved nonlethal weapons including paint-ball rifles and air-pellet rifles spotted by school-security officers in cars parked in the student-parking lot.

Even though there was an innocent explanation, Miller said the incidents were treated seriously and threat-assessment teams evaluated the circumstances of the students involved.

She said the threat-assessment process allows school officials to distinguish the accidental or unintended event from the truly dangerous and to determine whether a student needs outside help or intervention.

Next year, Marysville Pilchuck High School, one of the state's largest at 2,700 students, will be broken into smaller learning communities, in part so students are better known by the adults in the school, she said.

Larry Francois, superintendent of Lakewood School District, said the most important thing a school staff can do is keep lines of communication open with students.

"Kids will know about things before an adult. We work on making kids feel comfortable and safe letting an adult know if there's a problem."

ESCALATING VIOLENCE IN OUR SCHOOLS

Tue, 03 Oct 2006 23:36:02 -0700

A comprehensive approach is needed to deal with external threats at schools
Schools are soft targets. Like we’ve seen in many school shootings these past seven years and again recently in Bailey, Colorado and the Amish school community in Nickel Plains, PA the path of least resistance is first choice of hostile intruders. Placing metal detectors in schools in and of itself is not the solution. A more comprehensive approach to dealing with external threats is needed.There are no quick and easy solutions to ensure our children will be safe at school. Yet key stakeholders from the school and its community must come together to discuss and implement strategies for reducing violence in our schools. Considerations to immediately address include:

Access control -.lock access points, route visitors to the main office
Train staff how to appropriately challenge unknown visitors
Identification badges for visitors only after verification and access approved
Full-time law enforcement (School Resource Officer) on campus
Trained Campus Security on campus
Crisis response training and drills for staff and students - regularly

Schools may also want to conduct a School Safety Assessment. A completed assessment will identify areas of vulnerability and strength; review safety and crisis preparedness policies; require interviews with school administrative staff, security personnel, local business owners and law enforcement; administer and analyze data from Student and Staff Climate Surveys and observe student and community behavior during and after school hours on and around campus.

Diaster Preparedness Internet Links 2006

Wed, 06 Sep 2006 13:50:48 -0700

Here are some helpful web links:
http://www.ready.gov/america/npm/index.htm
http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/interapp/press_release/press_release_0987.xml
Preparedness Tasks—American Red Cross
http://www.redcross.org/services/prepare/0,1082,0_239_,00.html
Preparing for Disasters (Health Care)—M. Clarke, RN, RRT-NPS, MS
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/542966?src=mp
Flu Pandemic Planning for Schools:

Federal guidance: http://www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/tab5.html
OSPI guidance: http://www.k12.wa.us/HealthServices/PandemicFluInformation.aspx
ESD 101 guidance: http://www.esd101.net/pandemicflu/default.aspx.
ESD 123 guidance: http://www.esd123.org/School_Health/PandemicFlu.html.

This is also the fifth anniversary of the attacks on September 11th, and the New York University Child Study Center has offered some suggestions on how to approach this issue in schools: http://www.aboutourkids.org/aboutour/articles/bundled/911_5_year_anniversary.html
National Volunteer Fire Council
http://www.nvfc.org/news/2006-preparedness-month.html
Government Technology & Communication Issues
http://www.nvfc.org/news/2006-preparedness-month.html
Business Recovery Checklist—Federal Emergency Management Agency
http://www.fema.gov/business/bc.shtm
Over the summer, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction has revised their School Safety Web site, and additional information can be found on this topic at: http://www.k12.wa.us/Safetycenter/

Welcome

Sat, 04 Feb 2006 12:41:21 -0800

Martin Speckmaier is principal of Comprehensive School and Workplace Safety, LLC a consulting firm located in Seattle, WA which assists school administrators, district professionals and community members to prevent and manage school violence. His consultations, trainings and presentations provide strategies and solutions to keep your school safe.

Martin's expertise includes the following areas:

School Safety Presentations, Trainings and Consultations

You will receive the latest school-specific safety trends and related strategies in Martin's presentations and trainings. Schools seek out Martin for his insight and knowledge which he gained through his hand's on experience in schools and law enforcement.

Topic areas include:

Cultural Diversity and School Safety - Keeping All Kids Safe
Effective Communication Under Stressful Conditions
The Resurgence of Youth Gang Activity in Schools - The Educator's Action Plan
Targeted Violence and Reactive Violence - Student Threat Assessment in Schools
The Current State of Safety in Washington Schools
Bullying, Harassment and Intimidation
Interviewing Strategies for Investigating Threats
Weapons and Violence in the Workplace
Safety and Security Training for Transportation Personnel

Threat Assessment Team Development

Martin will work with your school district and community professionals to establish a team which can investigate and manage incidents which pose a threat to your school. This multi-disciplinary, collaborative team approach consists of stakeholders from the building, district, and community including law enforcement, mental health and educators. Development of the team includes how to build the network of trained professionals; training on conducting threat investigation and the threat management process.

Emergency Response Crisis Management

Your school communities will be helped to meet the NIMS requirements through Emergency Response Crisis Management (ERCM) process. In his facilitation Martin will cover the four phases of the Emergency Response Crisis Management: Prevention / Mitigation, Preparedness, Response and Recovery.

Contact Martin Speckmaier for your school safety needs.

Phone: (206) 853-2593; Email: mhspeck@comcast.net

"Violence is anything that denies human dignity and leads to a sense of helplessness or hopelessness." Dr. Martin Luther King

Comprehensive School and Workplace Safety, LLC is private, independent and not product affiliated.