Fort Smith Public School police officers attend school safety summit

School safety was addressed Tuesday, June 7, by members from 26 school districts across northwest Arkansas who met at Springdale Public Schools' Don Tyson School of innovation.

The summit featured keynote speaker Cheryl P. May, the University of Arkansas System Criminal Justice Institute Director, who has nearly 30 years in the forensics profession.

Bill Hollenbeck, Chief of Fort Smith Public Schools Police Department, was in attendance with his team.

Chief Hollenbeck attended a breakout session called "Situational Awareness" in which they reviewed how to be aware in every situation when visitors are on school campuses.

Other sessions included "Building Safety Documents and Emergency Procedures" and "Suicide Prevention in Public Schools."

"Networking with other professionals that are like-minded is important and it's great to pick their brains and have people to reach out to for new ideas," Hollenbeck said.

Anytime there's a "horrible situation" like the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Hollenbeck said his police department is duty bound to look at their training and safety procedures.

"This (school shooting) of course, brings it to the forefront," he said. "What we've learned, we definitely want to pass on to our staff, especially the lessons learned from any type of tragic situation."

Hollenbeck said every teacher and staff member will review their active intruder training this upcoming school year.

"We're constantly striving we're very dedicated to ensure that we're using the most up to date strategies, technology and training to keep our students, staff and public safe," he said.

Hollenbeck mentioned that the schools' police department motto is "protecting our future."

We take that as a solemn oath," he said. "We mean that. We have dedicated officers that come into school that work not only as police officers in the schools, but they are counselors, and they're educators as well. We want to make sure that our officers in the schools are approachable, and that we are that trusted adult that kids can come to."

Hollenbeck said one of the common denominators in school shootings is that a student has told a friend what they're planning to do.

This is where the student resource officers and the anonymous school tip line come in.

Resource officers are always free to speak to students about a concern or challenge they're facing.

The tip line is provided to students so they can anonymously let officers know if there's bullying occurring, if a friend of theirs needs help or if they need to report a potential threat.

Hollenbeck also said the schools' police department is partnering with Fort Smith Police Department to develop a training program the two can attend together for active intruder situations.

One of the takeaways from the Regional School Safety Summit for Hollenbeck was that his department is already doing the trainings and has procedures in place like the ones reviewed in Springdale.

"We are utilizing modern practices, techniques and strategies and technology in trying to prevent the pathway to violence," he said. "I'm very happy that we are on the cutting edge. But again, we have to constantly strive to do better and not just the Fort Smith Schools, but all the participants at this summit feel the same way and know that we can do better we got to constantly strive to try to do better."

This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Police officers from school districts met to discuss state shootings