PoliceOne.com: 4 key takeaways from the Fla. high school shooting

A 19-year-old man shot and killed 17 students and adults at a high school in Parkland, Florida, and wounded many more. The man is in police custody after he surrendered to them “without incident.”

We will learn more about this horrific crime as the investigation continues, but even at this early stage, we can identify useful pieces of information from the reporting to highlight several longstanding truths about these rapid mass murder incidents:

1. WE HAVE A MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS IN AMERICA.

There will be a predictable focus on the tool used by the killer by some people with a political agenda, but the real story here is about a young man who had mental and emotional problems, and didn’t get the right help for them.

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2. OUR SCHOOLS DESERVE BETTER SECURITY.

Programs such as the Transportation Security Administration’s Federal Flight Deck Officer program or the Buckeye Firearms Association’s FASTER program have ably demonstrated how selected volunteers can be trained to provide a necessary layer of defense, and act as on-scene first responders, while more capable resources (the police) are summoned.

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3. ENEMY TACTICS ARE IMPROVING.

In an environment where a lockdown is the predictable response to an active killer threat, today’s killer found an easy way to short circuit the defense by using the school’s own fire response protocol against them.

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4. WE CANNOT RELAX OUR EFFORTS.

We too must seek continuous improvement in our tactics, training and equipment, and must never allow our preparations to grow stale. We must stay abreast of the latest enemy tactics, and organize flexible, responsive defenses that can quickly adapt to the situation.

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