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The mistake of the US police in the school shooting

Police in Texas were waiting outside the classroom when the shooter committed the crime, while training required them to immediately rush in to remove the threat.

Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), admitted on May 27 that police officers made “the wrong decision” to wait outside in the hallway, while gunner 18-year-old Salvador Ramos massacred 19 students and two teachers at Robb primary school, Uvalde city on May 24.

The 19 officers did not immediately rush in, with the assumption that Ramos was just entrenched inside the classroom and that the students were no longer in danger. Experts say their actions go against their trained procedures to deal with mass shootings.

All US police training documents indicate that officers must quickly rush in to confront the shooter, even with a squad of 1-2 people, to neutralize the threat. Texas police’s business process emphasizes that “the officer’s first priority is to enter the scene and confront the attacker.” In the process, they may ignore the injured or fail to respond to the children’s cries for help, with the ultimate goal of neutralizing the gunman.





An officer receives instruction on proactive shooting response at Meadowview Elementary School, Virginia in 2020. Photo: AP.

An officer trained in shooting response during a drill at Meadowview Elementary School, Virginia in 2020. Photo: AP.

Experts say it is only when the gunfire stops that police adopt a different process. At that time, they were trained to use slower tactics, suitable for situations when responding to entrenched gunmen or taking hostages.

Response procedures can vary depending on the actual situation, especially with complex cases such as shootings. Officers will have to make their own judgments based on incomplete information as things can change in a split second and there is no one-size-fits-all formula.

“There’s usually no perfect response, because the best plan always has its downsides,” said Ashley Heiberger, a retired Pennsylvania police officer who is often in charge of police training.

But in a school shooting, police must make neutralizing the threat a top priority, according to Ronald Tunkel, a retired agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms who specializes in analysis of crime school shootings.

“If you know children are being murdered, why are you hesitating? Get in there now,” he said.

Desperate parents cry outside Robb Elementary School

Desperate parents cried and cried outside Robb Elementary School and were stopped by police during the shooting on May 24. Video: CNN.

In the shooting at Uvalde, when at least 19 police officers gathered outside in the hallway, children inside the classroom repeatedly called 911 for more than an hour to report dead and injured friends and ask for help. Inside the school, Ramos fired about 100 shots, after which sporadic gunfire continued.

“There’s no excuse for that wrongdoing,” McCraw admitted. “When there’s a shooter, the normal rules have to change.”

Methods of responding to such shootings have changed dramatically since 1999, when 12 students and a teacher were killed at Columbine High School in Colorado, while trained officers surrounded the area. , waiting for the task force to intervene.

“The Columbine shooting changed everything, because the police realized that waiting wasn’t a bad plan, but that victims would be killed while they waited,” said Robert J. Louden, professor emeritus of justice Criminal Justice and Homeland Security at the University of the Court of Georgia in New Jersey, said.

Since then, American police have increasingly focused on speed of action. In the 2014 Elkhart, Indiana supermarket shooting, police killed the assailant within a minute of arriving at the scene, when he was about to kill a third person.





A police officer at the scene of a music festival shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2017. Photo: AFP.

A police officer at the scene of a music festival shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2017. Photo: AFP.

Heiberger said that while officers are all trained in how to respond to shooters, police departments have different options for how to proceed. Some units require the police to confront the gunman, while others choose less dangerous methods.

“Most police departments don’t require their officers to act at the risk of their lives, but I think most officers feel they have a moral obligation to protect people’s lives,” he said. speak.

In Uvalde, shortly after Ramos broke into the school, at least four officers gave chase, but they were shot by the suspect, wounding two. They were then ordered to withdraw to wait for reinforcements and no longer tried to enter. The suspect was shot down only when the Border Patrol task force arrived and burst into the classroom where Ramos was entrenched.

Two months ago, police officers in Uvalde received training on how to respond to school shootings, based on guidance from the Texas Law Enforcement Commission. Those documents state that officers will often have to take risks and act bravely to save innocent people.

“As first responders, we must understand that people’s lives need to be protected. Police who are not willing to put people’s lives above their own safety should consider switching to public service. other professions”, the document reads.





Robbery elementary school shooting.  Graphics: Ta Lu.  Click on the picture to see details.

Robbery elementary school shooting. Click on the picture to see details.

Doug Conn, police chief of Angelina University, which drafted the training material used in Uvalde, said that urgency in police action has become a focus of recent such trainings.

“Officers have to be ready to confront and eliminate the threat at all times. They don’t have to put personal safety first,” Conn said.

Thanh Tam (Follow NY Times)

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