Alamogordo Schools and Alamogordo Police discuss emergency preparedness in Alamogordo

Alamogordo Public Schools administrators and Alamogordo Police Chief Richard Denton offered their insights about how the community and schools are prepared should a shooting like the one at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas happen in Alamogordo.

"Safety of staff and students is my number one priority," Alamogordo Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Kenneth Moore said. "We have a strong team of security liaisons, many of whom are retired police officers in our schools.

"All Alamogordo Public Schools teachers and staff are trained in emergency drills from lockdown to shelter-in-place to evacuations," Moore said.

There is a difference between lockdown and shelter-in-place. Shelter-in-place could happen if a student is experiencing a medical emergency, for example, to keep the halls clear for emergency personnel, Alamogordo Public Schools Safety and Security Chief Doyle Syling said.

More: Live Uvalde shooting updates Thursday: Onlookers urged police to charge into school

"All (shelter-in-place) does is just keep them in their internal environment without threat of an external threat," Syling said.

Lockdowns can happen when there is police activity near a school but not necessarily on campus. Other preparations to buildings include safeguards like security vestibules at all school entrances, fencing around Alamogordo High School, regular drills and direct radio links between Alamogordo Public Schools and local law enforcement including Otero County Sheriff's Office and Alamogordo Police Department.

"We have a close partnership with (Alamogordo Police) Chief (Richard) Denton and his team who are just a radio call or a phone call away," Moore said. "Often their (school resources officer) is right there in the building."

Sixteen Alamogordo Police Officers who serve as school resource officers are assigned to schools. The officers are at all Alamogordo middle schools, Alamogordo High School and many of the elementary schools.

All Alamogordo Public Schools are secure, Moore said.

This means that all Alamogordo Public Schools have security vestibules for visitors upon entering school buildings.

The entrances have locked doors that can only be opened from the inside, visitors check in at a window and if they need to go somewhere on campus, an escort takes them where they need to be.

From May 2019: It's a great time to be a Tiger: changes coming to AHS in the fall

The windows and doors between the foyer and the main school area are bulletproof glass.

As to the drills, Alamogordo Public Schools by state law has to conduct lockdown, shelter-in-place and evacuation drills throughout the school year.

If a student was in the restroom or was otherwise not in a classroom when the drill begins, the students are directed to safe spaces throughout the school building with security directing them, Moore said.

"We don't go around with anybody playing Bad Guy," Moore said.

During the drills, school security will check to see if doors are locked, Syling said.

"We take any threat of violence that we receive- and a lot of these are hearsay- seriously to the level that not only do we direct our own threat assessment, but we report those to the appropriate law enforcement agency for investigation," Syling said.

"If it's during school hours, we're pulling kids in (to talk to them). If it's after hours, we're working- there have been instances where we've worked all night long- getting information for this kid, for this kid, for whatever the APD or the Sheriff's Office to respond to a house and speak with parents and children."

As to Alamogordo Police, officers go through a several day active shooter course at the Law Enforcement Academy, Denton said.

"They get classroom instruction and practical application at the academy," Denton said about the training. "Our training is now, as simple as it may sound, if it's an active shooter, you don't wait for a partner, you just go and neutralize the threat."

Mental health is an important part of both Alamogordo Public Schools and Alamogordo Police Department.

At Alamogordo Public Schools, about 75% of security staff are trained in Crisis Intervention Training where they are taught how to take care of cases involving mental health issues or mental health crises, Syling said.

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The May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas left 21 people dead including 19 children and later law enforcement fatally shot the 18-year old gunman who was from Uvalde.

Uvalde, Texas is about 85 miles west of San Antonio, Texas.

On May 23, the Federal Bureau of Investigations released its "Active Shooter Incidents in the United States in 2021" report which showed an upward trend in active shooter incidents since 2017.

From March 2021: A first aid kit for the brain: Mental Health First Aid helps people help those in crisis

The FBI designated 61 shootings in 2021 as active shooter incidents.

The FBI defines an active shooter incident as one where "one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area. Implicit in this definition is the shooter’s use of a firearm. The active aspect of the definition inherently implies the ongoing nature of an incident, and thus the potential for the response to affect the outcome, whereas a mass killing is defined as three or more killings in a single incident."

Nicole Maxwell can be contacted by email at nmaxwell@alamogordonews.com, by phone at 575-415-6605 or on Twitter at @nicmaxreporter. If you have questions about your subscription, please contact Customer Service at  AlamogordoDailyNews@Gannett.com or call 1-877-301-0013.

This article originally appeared on Alamogordo Daily News: Alamogordo Schools and Alamogordo Police discuss emergency preparedness