6 Tips for School Security

There are several components of an effective educational system, all of which work together to provide students with quality education. School safety is one of those components and one which many people take for granted. After all, schools are supposed to be a safe haven for kids, right?

The reality of things has made parents and school management alike to take school security more seriously. From vandalism to shootings, violence and bullying, abuse, harassment, and drugs, there’s no shortage of incidents in the school these days. And the threats to school security are not only from external factors, as there’s an alarming rise in violent crime among young people.

Classroom violence is spilling into the outside world, and attacks on staff members are now seen as normal. More than ever, there’s a serious and urgent need for school management to deal with the threats to safety on the school premises. A secure working environment is a prerequisite for an effective learning process. And below are tips that can be used to improve school security.

1. Creation of a Comprehensive Security Plan

Many schools are good at managing safety programs designed for fire outbreaks and natural disasters. These programs define the roles and actions to be taken by student and staff members in the event of these situations, and the programs are properly documented and practiced regularly.

However, many schools do not have such elaborate plans or policies when it comes to school security. The foundation of a good security program is a robust security plan. It’s not a walk in the park and requires a lot of work, but school management must keep everyone on the premises safe.

Consultation with security experts can help draft a comprehensive security plan which should include policies that identify the probability of a security incident occurring, assess the level of impact, and develop procedures to respond to any threat. There should also be an emphasis on how to prevent an incident from occurring and raising awareness among students and staff members.

2. Prioritization of Assets

The goal of any security program is to protect assets such as people, facilities, equipment, and so on. Assets in the school include people (students, staff members, and visitors), faculty buildings or classrooms, information (files and records), and equipment.

When drafting a security plan, the management must itemize all assets the security plan is intended to protect and rank them in the order of importance. Without a doubt, students and staff members are of the highest priority, while physical facilities will be given the least priority.

3. Identification of Threats

Threats to school security must be listed and prioritized. Also, the threat must be categorized as either internal or external and also accurately described when identified. Threats could come from staff, students, community offenders, or disgruntled family members.

Management can use demographic data and police registration to develop threat descriptions and predict threat levels. School incident logs are also an important source of information that is valuable for building threat lists.

4. Deterrence of Crime

A good security plan should also include strategies for preventing security incidents from being attempted. And a simple way to achieve this is to make certain aspects of the security program visible. This includes installing CCTV cameras, eliminating dark areas with proper lighting, perimeter fencing, and deployment of well-marked guards and escorts. All of these features make the school grounds less attractive to potential perpetrators, and most will leave in search of easier targets.

5. Detection, Delay, and Response

Detection is an important component of any security system and may involve a sensor signaling the occurrence of an incident or personnel identifying and assessing the cause of the incident.

Delay refers to making an attack as difficult as possible to give staff, civilians, and assistance services more time to evaluate, react, manage, or resolve the incident. This can be achieved by installing attack-resistant windows and doors.

The response is based on the arrival of security personnel in a timely manner. The first responder in the school should ideally arrive within two minutes of the detection of the incidence. Sometimes, help from local law enforcement or hospital is needed, and how quickly they are notified of the incident may be the difference between life and death.

Many schools install silent alarms linked with law enforcement to improve response times of law enforcement. In some states, such alarms are even mandatory as per Alyssa’s Law.

“The time that it takes for emergency personnel to get to the scene of an emergency can mean the difference between life and death. With complete intelligence, staff, first responders, and law enforcement can investigate suspicious activity, prevent critical incidents, and reduce response times to provide a higher level of safety for everyone,” says SaferWatch, a company that specializes in advanced life-saving tools for Alyssa’s Law Florida compliance.

6. Briefing and Drillings

It’s not enough to have a comprehensive plan in place. Staff and students must be made aware of the school security policy and know the difference between their roles. Security drills should be practiced the same way fire drills are practiced. Both are emergencies, anyway. Drills can also help spot problems and correct them before an incident occurs.