American University in Washington DC held a drill to establish the school’s readiness to deal with a school shooter, or “VT style” shooting.
Less than 20 minutes after officers arrived, the drill was over. The suspect in the drill was captured and killed.
That’s great. It sure makes me comfortable to know that my (hypothetical) child would only have to dodge gunfire for 20 minutes before the State arrived to make him or her safe. That’s just wonderful. What really kills me is that the administrators somehow think that 20 minutes is an acceptable response time.
Here’s the problem. It is a good response time. You can’t expect the police to be there instantly, not even for a drill – like I’ve said before, you’re responsible for your own safety. If you’ve got kids going to college, remind that the university and the police cannot protect them all the time. In fact, there’s a damn good chance that when they need protection, the police will be nowhere near.
