It is disheartening to see the phenomenon of hate embraced by so many people who don't understand the origin, meaning, or impact. To grasp the significance, you must first understand what it means. It is an intense, deep-seated emotional response of strong dislike,...
MAJOR BEN’S ARTICLES
Below is a list of articles by Major Ben Brooks that have appeared in the Times Herald.
Daddy, What Time Will You Be Home Tonight?
Every family member asks this question daily. I wonder how many leaders realize the gravity of that question for their officers. When they get up in the morning, they have quiet time with their family before embarking on, hopefully, another routine day at the office....
Leaks
A leak is an unintended hole, crack, or fault that allows a substance- such as a liquid, gas, or light- to escape or enter a container or system. As a child growing up in the rural South, I watched my father build his own home. At that time, he installed a tin roof....
Masks and Officer Safety
As a career law enforcement officer, I am perplexed by the recent debate over officers wearing masks. Everything I learned about law enforcement involved honesty, integrity, and, most of all, transparency. The federal government has a duty to present law enforcement...
Bias Understood
As an international speaker, trainer, and consultant, I have been intrigued by the lack of understanding of various terms, with people using them without knowing their meanings or applications. At one of my National Speakers Association conferences, a presenter shared...
Fear and Bias as a Law Enforcement Blind Spot
Fear – an unpleasant feeling triggered by the perception of danger real or imagined. Origin - past experiences (0-6) History - nomadic days (fight or flight) Survival function - to protect us, triggered by a significant event, i.e., hot, cold, wet, trauma Source: New...
DEI America’s Biggest Blind Spot
In 2016, I took a course with AARP in defensive driving. Having been driving since I was sixteen, I was curious about what the instructor could teach me. I signed up for the course to get a discount on my car insurance. As the instructor went through his orientation,...
DEI, The Latest Bogeyman
DEI is the latest catchphrase that is the catalyst for the present state of the divided states of America. We raise and salute the flag as we recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States of America. As patriotic as that sounds, it is far from our day-to-day...
The Reality of Community Policing
Many police executives approached community-oriented policing with a great deal of skepticism because they didn’t realize the critical role that the community plays in their success. Many felt they could do it on their own. Dr. Lee Brown, a former police commissioner...
A Nation Of Cowards
Former Atty. Gen. Eric Holder once said that America is a nation of cowards and he received a great deal of pushback for his statement. As I listened to his pronouncement, I wondered what was the concern about his statement. America has always had an issue with...
A Practical Approach to Addressing School Shootings
By Major Ben Brooks
After Columbine, over four hundred school shootings were reported in America. Every citizen should be outraged that our society has allowed that to happen. Schools should be the safest place in our community for our students, staff, and teachers. It is challenging to teach and learn in an environment where they don’t feel safe. Physical safety should not be the main focus during the school day, especially if all stakeholders are coordinating their efforts.
As a consultant, trainer, and retired law enforcement officer, I am concerned about America’s approach to addressing school safety. Their focus is on what students, teachers, and staff should do when there is an active shooter. It is important to recognize that the active shooters are students or former students. The main concern must focus on the environment that produced the active shooter. Being able to identify and address potential situations before they become problems, would preclude the presence of law enforcement. Ensuring psychological safety is paramount to addressing situations. This requires the utilization of school counselors who are positioned to address potential situations, thereby negating the presence of law enforcement.
A critical tenet in addressing the shootings is a memorandum of understanding between school officials and law enforcement. Most schools employ the services of school security personnel and school resource officers. The responsibilities are focused on establishing positive relationships with the students, faculty, and staff. It is a critical step in addressing issues of physical and psychological safety.
In training sessions, there is a strong emphasis on the most critical skill or senses each officer must possess to effectively fulfill their responsibility. They are seeing and listening. Establishing a positive relationship with students, faculty, and staff requires vigilance in observing and hearing interactions among them. While it is impossible to have a personal relationship with every student, faculty, or staff member, it is paramount that there is a positive relationship with as many as possible.
Having positive relationships with the students, faculty, and staff allows the school resource officers and security personnel to have additional eyes and ears to identify situations that lead to aberrant behavior or signs of instability among the student populace. There is no situation in which someone does not know of a potential negative impacting issue. A relationship with the students, faculty, and staff prepares the organization for intervention in addressing negative student behavior. This is important when the prospective shooters are disgruntled, disenfranchised, marginalized, disrespected, ignored, or troubled past or present students.
Memoranda of understanding must be an integral part of the orientation of all stakeholders, i.e. law enforcement, security personnel, parents, students, counselors, teachers, and staff. Coordination between law enforcement and security personnel will ensure that the outer perimeter of the school is fortified against injury by a potential shooter, ensuring physical safety. The effectiveness of coordination between school resource officers, school safety officers, and law enforcement ensures that the students, faculty, and staff can focus on psychological safety within the classroom.
School officials and law enforcement must pause to reassess the current approach to addressing school shootings since the shooters are from within. When the stakeholders are coordinating their efforts, school shootings will be a thing of the past. This can only occur when they recognize there has to be a shift from law enforcement to policing which is having a positive community policing relationship instead of an enforcement posture.
The Kenosha Wisconsin Police Department, under the leadership of Chief Patrick Patton, was an example of a stakeholder fulfilling their function. His department responded to a call of an armed suspect with a firearm attempting to enter the elementary school in his jurisdiction. The thirteen-year-old had a suspicious bag which drew attention to his behavior. The excellent work of the police department and school officials was instrumental in thwarting a potentially tragic incident. This is an example of the philosophy of the eyes and ears phenomenon: see something, hear something, do something. This is the response that is expected from all stakeholders. Operating in concert will render in-school shootings a thing of the past.
The most effective way to address the situation is to convene a meeting with all stakeholders, teachers, faculty, staff, students, school resource officers, local police, parents, school counselors, political leaders, and the NRA. Each stakeholder must be heard and their contribution valued. A comprehensive approach is the most effective way to address a national phenomenon.