Portsmouth leaders assure residents about preparedness to protect schools
To all Portsmouth residents:
On behalf of the city of Portsmouth, we are sending out this message in reference to the recent tragic school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. First, we wish to offer our heartfelt thoughts and prayers for the affected families and citizens of Uvalde.
We want to ensure that your concerns about the safety of our students and staff here in Portsmouth are being addressed. We have a multi-faceted approach that provides our school communities with the necessary tools, protocols and procedures needed along with our assistance to intervene and prevent school-based gun violence in our city. We have worked vigorously together to have in place procedures which have been proven to be most effective in dealing with any school threat. Our Police Department has worked hand in hand with our School Department to provide training as well as a response protocol to prevent and/or react, if necessary, to any active shooter threat occurring at any of our schools. We value the support of our community, and we will continue to work collaboratively to make sure we have the necessary resources, protocols and procedures in place to keep this community safe.
Although the Police Department cannot share specific details of its response for security reasons, it can however share the following:
Every police vehicle in the fleet contains a detailed plan outlining response protocols for each of our city schools including the Lister Academy and St. Patrick's School. Also included in each vehicle are tools necessary to make entry into locked schools including keys to all doors.
Portsmouth officers are trained and prepared to make solo-officer entries during an active shooter event. Not only are we trained, we have on staff certified instructors on this topic and are sending more officers to instructor level training in July of this year.
The Portsmouth Police Department has 11 officers who are highly trained members of the Seacoast Emergency Response Team (SWAT). These officers and detectives work in our City every day, and would be among the first to respond to an active shooter. These officers train twice a month in all aspects of high-risk operations, with an emphasis on active shooter and hostage rescue.
Police command staff is trained and certified in ICS (Incident Command System) and NIMS (National Incident Management System).
The Police Department has worked closely with the Portsmouth Fire Department to incorporate Rescue Task Forces and implement EMS in the Warm Zone protocols to ensure prompt medical aid during an active shooter incident. All members of the Portsmouth Fire Department are Rescue Task Force trained. In addition, active shooter response plans are contained in all fire engines and ambulances.
The Police Department emphasizes officer mindset during training, and all officers understand that calls which happen infrequently are the calls for which they need to be most prepared. Lessons learned from incidents across the country are incorporated into its plans.
"I don't care what the police officer has to do, I don't care what risk they have to take, I want the police to do everything and anything to make sure my child is safe," is how Maloney described the parental viewpoint taken by local police. "We're going to treat your kids like our kids. Those are the risks that we'll take and that's the way we frame it to our officers when they're responding."
This City's public safety professionals take very seriously and realize the critical role they play in keeping our students and faculty safe. We will continue to analyze and evolve with all current best standards relative to active shooter response.
Mayor Deaglan McEachern
City Manager Karen Conard
Superintendent of Schools Steve Zadravec
Chief of Police Mark Newport
Fire Chief Todd Germain
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Portsmouth NH leaders assure police are prepared to protect schools
