The Arkansas School Safety Commission is preparing to recommend using Texas State University's Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training as the unified response plan to school shootings.
The commission started off the meeting on Tuesday by going over the July 6 report from TSU's Rapid Response Training Center which showed that the law enforcement officers who responded to the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting had multiple chances to stop or slow the gunman before he killed 19 students and two adults.
"It's not a fun read and makes me sick to my stomach, but I think it's important that as we move forward that we understand the critical nature of our convening," Tim Helder, Washington County Sheriff and commission member, said. "The purpose of discussing this report is not to vilify, but to look at the events as they transpired and how they fit with the recommendations we have made in the past and some of the ones we might recommend moving forward."
One of these future recommendations from the safety committee might include using the program created by the same organization who wrote the report as the basis for a unified response to active shooters, not only for law enforcement, but for teachers and armed staff as well, it was suggested at the meeting.
The rapid response training "teaches that the priority is to stop the killing," Chris Chapmond, chief of the Hot Springs Police Department and president of the Arkansas Association of Chiefs of Police, said. "Everything else becomes secondary. Leadership or rank doesn't have anything to do with it. It's very evident from the report that we did not see this. Nobody took control of the situation and it was a failure that cost lives."
Chapmond said this is why the commission should look into using the rapid response program as the main training program.
"There are three basic concepts in their training. There is the law enforcement-specific training to tell the gun toters how to respond, and they have the civilian side. They teach civilian staff how to survive at the start of the incident and how to wait until enforcement arrives. Then there is the integrated response training that teaches how Fire, EMS and law enforcement need to respond to save lives. This training is accepted regionally as the gold standard."
Gov. Asa Hutchinson reinstated the Arkansas School Safety Commission on June 10 in the aftermath of several mass shootings across the nation, including the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
The gunman, identified as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos of Uvalde, was killed by law enforcement officers after they waited more than an hour to confront the shooter inside a classroom. The incident was among the worst K-12 school shootings since the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., that left 26 dead.
According to the detailed Rapid Response Training Center report, a Uvalde officer armed with a rifle had his sights on the gunman but waited for permission from a supervisor and missed his chance to act before the armed 18-year-old entered the school.
Other issues mentioned in the report included a responding officer driving too fast to notice the gunman was near him, and officers who tried initially to stop the armed teenager but "lost momentum" after taking fire and waiting for more weapons and shields to arrive.
"It's heartbreaking and aggravating, but we have to look at these details so we can improve and make sure it doesn't happen here," Bill Hollenbeck, chief of police for Fort Smith Public Schools, said.
The lack of leadership, a command post or a unified post in the Uvalde response must be avoided within the state, those at the Arkansas School Safety Commission meeting noted.
"One of the takeaways we can pull from this report is it seems they hadn't availed themselves to the (rapid response) training," he said.
Chapmond agreed, saying that the lack of command and control probably created more havoc in Uvalde.
"We are not here to vilify, but you need a strong leadership platform," he said. "Someone should have been giving directions. The officer should have also had discretion to do what they should have done. He should have not had to ask for permission. Officers need to be properly trained to take that action and feel independent to make those decisions in those critical situations."
Chapmond said the advantage of having the unified state training method is that everyone has the same basic understanding on how to respond.
Dr. David Hopkins, superintendent at Clarksville School District, said his armed staff members have received the TSU center's rapid response training.
"From the beginning they are taught to go to the gunfire and stop the killing," he said. "Whether that is by tying him up by keeping him occupied until the cavalry get there or you stopping them."
Hopkins also mentioned the civilian training some of his staff has received from the Rapid Response Center that includes emergency triage for wounded individuals.
May suggested one of the survey questions that are being sent out to schools in the near future should ask if staff and law enforcement have received the center's rapid response training. She also mentioned one of the questions addressing the type of tactical equipment schools have on-site.
"We don't know how many schools even have this equipment. We assume it is very limited," she said. "I know many law enforcement officers and I know where their heart is, but I also want them to be protected. I want them to be able to save kids with the best equipment possible."
Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said at the meeting it was probably important for the public to know the depths of what rapid response training involves and the time committed to it.
"As a parent, before I sent my student to school I would want to know if the faculty or law enforcement are trained and what it entails," she said. "I want parents to talk to their school board members and legislators about this issue."
Chapmond said rapid response training for staff at a school is a four-hour session where they will offer threat assessment for a facility and do scenario-based training with local law enforcement. He also said rapid response training for law enforcement can take multiple days and is very intensive when it comes to the tactical side.
Helder agreed with Rutledge and mentioned how he found himself maddened by the situation sometimes.
"It just continually happens," he said. "I had an outburst with a very high-ranking person about how I didn't understand how this (training) couldn't be legislated or required. He told me in the absence of legislation that maybe we can shame them. There should be a grading system for what level of security a school has because parents have the right to know."
May said that a potential grading system for school security is something that has been discussed in the past.
CORRECTION: Law enforcement officers responding to the May 24 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, never checked to see if a classroom door was unlocked as they waited for more than an hour before confronting a shooter holed up in the classroom, according to the head of the Texas state police. An earlier version of this story incorrectly implied that the door was locked during the shooting.