From the Secret Service to Howard County schools security chief, Rifield says he cares about all students as if they were his own

Oct. 7—Ian Rifield doesn't have the typical resume of a Howard County public school official.

Before coming to HCPSS, Rifield, 59, was a U.S. Secret Service agent for more than 20 years, assigned to multiple presidential details and teams, from the Counter Assault Team to the Airspace Security Branch. But Rifield, who lives in Anne Arundel County, comes from a family of educators, and when he saw an opening in the Howard school system, he applied.

"I've always had respect for educators and loved instruction," he said. "I thought I could transfer the skill sets I learned in the Secret Service and bring it to this educational environment."

On May 20, Rifield took over as director of security, emergency preparedness and response, tasked with overseeing the safety of the county's 77 public schools and 57,000 students. His tenure began just four days before a mass shooting left 19 elementary students dead in Uvalde, Texas, and has seen increased calls for school security reform and preparedness. Rifield's team dealt with its own gun scare on Oct. 4, when a hoax phone threat put River Hill High School in Clarksville on lockdown, with armed law enforcement officers charging the building.

"[Uvalde] was a motivating factor for me to make sure that our schools will never experience that," he explained.

While some Republican officials in Texas called for arming teachers and administrators in the wake of the shooting, Rifield says he wants to relieve the burden of security from teachers as much as possible.

"We hire quality educators," he said. "I'm going to provide them an environment where they can pass that knowledge and education on to the students. They're not law enforcement, they're not security. They're educators and that's what they need to concentrate on."

Part of relieving that burden means ensuring safety is second nature for school staff, according to Rifield, and that teachers are familiar with all the ins and outs of their building.

"I want security to become a culture," he said. "I want it to be like brushing your teeth, you just get up in the morning and you do it and if you forget, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth and you're going to brush them again right away."

Rifield began his career in law enforcement in South Florida with the Pompano Beach Police Department before his love of investigations drew him to the Secret Service. He was present at the White House on Sept. 11, 2001, a "seminal point" during his time as an agent, and was given a range of assignments, including designing the security and emergency action plan at then-Vice President Joe Biden's Delaware residence.

Rifield said he's especially sensitive when it comes to violence at schools, since his mother, wife and daughter all worked in education. He also had several friends at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., in 2018 when a mass shooting took place there and his daughter attended UNC Charlotte when a shooter killed two people in 2019.

During the summer, the police commander who investigated the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting came to speak with the Howard security team to discuss lessons on improving building security.

"My philosophy is good, better, best," said Rifield, who's spent the past several months establishing a baseline on which technology, procedures and trainings can be improved across the system.

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While physical security across school buildings is critical, Rifield wants to take a holistic approach to his job. His office collaborates with student services, counselors and diversity, equity and inclusion staff, among others, to ensure threats to students' mental and physical safety are being addressed.

"You got to know the kid," he said. "A kid in a mental health crisis, that's a true medical emergency. We need to get them proper care and intervention before security steps in."

The Office of Safety and Security also coordinates a range of trainings for teachers, administrators, security assistants, and school resource officers. Unlike security assistants, SROs are members of the Howard County Police Department and are involved in investigating criminal activity, but not student conduct and discipline.

Thirteen SROs work in the county's public schools, one at each high school plus the Homewood Center, following a memorandum of understanding signed with the Board of Education in June 2021 that reduced the size of the program.

"Ian's experience with the Secret Service has benefited everybody in the arena with safety at the schools," said Maj. Justin Baker, who oversees the police department's youth division and the SRO program. "He's been a great partner in the last several months that he's been here."

After years of protecting presidents, Rifield is ready to bring the same level of dedication to the hallways of Howard County schools.

"When I come to school each day, I have 57,000 kids that I care about, just like they're all my own," he said. "We're going to do everything to make sure that they have a safe and secure environment [and] to ensure that they received that quality education that Howard County is known for."