Category: Bomb Threat/IED
Train the Plan
09/21/08, by Brad 
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Categories: Best Practices, Severe Weather, Lockdown, Bomb Threat/IED, Public Health/Pandemic, Threat Assessment An untested and untrained plan is little more than theory. After developing school/college emergency plans a training program should be designed to educate students, parents, teachers, staff, crisis team members and administrators in threat assessment procedures, emergency response, management policies and procedures. Once training is implemented, exercises should be conducted to test the plans and training.
Currently, most educational facilities have adopted a training philosophy that embraces performing extremely well under reasonable conditions, rather than performing reasonably well under extreme conditions. For example:
Lockdown, Weather, Earthquake & Fire Drills Deficiencies
Staff has advanced knowledge of the exact time of the drill and the drill occurs when all students are in the classroom.
Solution
After two or three successful drills, limit advanced knowledge to the day of the event and implement the drills during transition times. Note: Avoid conducting drills during meal periods, due to the costs associates with missed lunches. To test response, set up a mock lunch period with students and staff.
Once you have your drills up and running, it is time to conduct training exercises. Tabletop & functional exercises use vivid scenarios, guided by experienced and certified facilitators, to engage participants in discussions of how they would respond to hypothetical events. Tabletops are designed to be a non-threatening and relatively low cost approach to validating capabilities. Use Homeland Security Exercise Evaluation Program (HSEEP) based exercises to explore and validate plans, identify logical or structural conflicts or gaps in those plans and develop specific areas for further study and improvement. Scenario should be coordinated/developed with local emergency management and public safety.
Stay safe
Brad
This post is provided by SafePlans (www.safeplans.com), an all-hazards preparedness solution including emergency plans, staff training, and detailed site mapping.
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Pipe Bomb Detonated at School Administrator’s Home
Summary
An improvised explosive device (IED) in the form of a pipe bomb was detonated outside the home of an official from an Indiana middle school. It was the second time in the last month that a device was planted in the mail box at this residence.
http://www.14wfie.com/Global/story.asp?S=8554147&nav=3w6o
Secondary Attacks and Their Countermeasures
In earlier posts, I discussed the critical school safety bomb threats, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and lockdown planning. From a security standpoint, an area that is closely related to these hazards is secondary attacks. For the purpose of this post, integrated school safety refers to the integration of a video surveillance/CCTV, access control, emergency planning and safety training; and a Secondary Attack refers to an attack using either a Secondary Explosive Device or Diversionary Attack or a combination thereof.
Secondary Explosive Device Definition: An explosive device that is placed in an area of evacuation or staging to inflict greater casualties and/or disrupt emergency response.
Diversionary Attack Definition: An attack wherein a force uses a means of deception with the purpose of drawing the target into an area more conducive to attack.
One of the most disturbing aspects of a secondary attack is that it preys on the good intentions of school personnel, who are attempting to protect students from a threat. Nothing is more intuitive than the desire to evacuate students at the sounding of a fire alarm or have them gather outside of a school after receiving a bomb threat. In the event of a fire, or the discovery of a suspicious package, those are not only reasonable actions, but one would be criminally negligent not to enact them. It is the bogus alarm or the baseless bomb threat that should lead school officials to consider the possibility of a secondary attack.
Bomb Detonates at California High School
As a follow up to underscore the importance of the “Bomb Threats and Improvised Explosive Devices (I.E.D.'s)" best practice post, I want to point out that an I.E.D. was actually detonated on school grounds on April 28th. This bombing was not associated with a threat. http://www.star-telegram.com/462/story/611203.html
Apparently the device that exploded was planted at an outdoor school basketball court on a Sunday; along with two other devices (that did not explode). The device was crude - but potentially deadly; utilizing a bottle that contained shrapnel in the form of fish hooks and bb’s to inflict maximum casualties.
