There have been two things in the news over the last few days of interest to those in the safety and security management career field. First, there was a story about how rumors about student’s alleged plans to commit suicide were spread via text messages over cellular phones. A student had in fact committed suicide several days prior to the incident in Augusta, Arkansas. Originally, concerned parents had contacted the school when it was thought a student was planning on a shooting spree. Police responded by conducting a search of the school with metal detectors. The search turned up no weapons but did start the rumors flying in earnest over the students cell phones. The text messages began to create a whole separate reality where 10 – 12 students had made a pact to commit suicide over the holidays, according to rumors. Panicked parents headed to the campus, and by 10 a.m. only 25 students remained at the 335-pupil elementary school.
Police in nearby Searcy called asking if Augusta police needed help, saying they had a report of a shooting at the school. Ambulances were diverted to the area. All of this of course because of students who claimed said they had received threatening text messages. On Jan. 7, the first school day of the New Year, school officials will institute a zero-tolerance policy on cellular phones. The school also plans an investigation into who caused the panic and promises to push for expulsions.
The story illustrates a very difficult challenge for the safety and security professional. There is no ability to determine the validity of a text message and if parents or students become panicked, you have to respond appropriately. Students may only be spreading urban legends or rumors they’ve heard in school without much regard to the accuracy of the information. Students have always spread rumors and it is only the advent of cell phones and incidents such as Columbine or more recently Virginia Tech that safety and security professionals are forced to take action. Even the merest hint of something going amiss can’t be ignored, the merest scrap of information may be all of the warning police or school officials may receive before a violent act occurs. Of course, the information may prove to be nothing more than a rumor. If discovered prematurely, the guilty parties can try to deny all knowledge of such intentions and may try to cover up any evidence.
Angry parents and school officials may not appreciate what they perceive as a false alarm in the event the potential attackers are never identified or prosecuted. What is often overlooked during such emotional times is that by preventing a potential attack, lives were saved. It is impossible to prove a negative (how can you show there was going to be an attack with no arrests?) but the opposite is far more grave should the indications of an impending attack be dismissed for a lack of evidence or credibility on the part of the source. Parents, school officials, security personnel and even students all need to be involved in identifying and reacting to potential violence before it occurs.
The last point is what concerns me about the reaction by the school officials in Augusta. A rumor got out over a technology that I suspect the majority of school officials there are uncomfortable with and instead of trying to use it to their benefit, they will completely eliminate cell phones. The unfortunate consequence of course is in the event of a hostage or shooter situation, students will have no means of emergency communication. It seems to be an overreaction to a situation that requires a comprehensive emergency response plan and not draconian measures of eliminating cellular phones. Students can still spread rumors after school via text messages and by traditional methods (such as notes and verbally) while in school. The problem isn’t the technology, the real key is getting students to understand an appreciate the gravity of the environment they now live in where such rumors cannot be ignored. Denying students a means of communication during an emergency or disaster situation seems to contrary to the best interests of the safety and security of the students as well as the school and community.
On a different note, four women in Egypt died in less than a week of H5N1 or avian flu. The women appeared to have been infected with the virus as a result of handling dead or diseased birds in their backyards. It wasn’t reported if the women were related or lived in the same area. The cases in Egypt bring up a disturbing problem, even though the Egyptian government has implemented a poultry vaccination program it is impossible to enforce. Over 5 million Egyptian households keep birds on hand for food and there is no way to positively identify and inoculate all of the birds. Humans will continue to be exposed to potentially sick birds as they handle them increasing the likelihood of infection. The close proximity of families in Egypt means the infected person will be exposed to other humans increasing the chance for the virus to mutate. Such a mutation could become a variant that is sustainable via human to human contact. If poultry inoculation programs are not able to be consistently carried out, then humans will continue to be infected by the virus and eventually it could mutate to a strain that could spread from human to human. While it may sound like crying wolf all of the time, it is important for those in the safety and security field to remain vigilant over avian flu and not become complacent merely because it hasn’t happened yet. A migratory bird could spread the disease or a traveler could be exposed to a variant of the virus that is communicable and the first case could appear somewhere where we least expect it.
No comments:
Post a Comment