Police Officer Explains in Detail Why Naugatuck High School Students Were Not Evacuated

This was first written on the Naugatuck High School Resource Officer’s Facebook page but I wanted to share it here as well because of the events at the high school from earlier today.

See related story:

Update: Bomb Threat Cleared at Naugatuck High School

By Naugatuck High School Resource Officer Matt DaSilva

Just a warning to everyone this is going to be a long but IMMPORTANT post about today’s events. With my background in the military and working with explosives I’d like to share some of my insight ...

Staff, Parents, and Students I’d like to use this status to address a concern amongst many alike. I’ve heard the grumblings of several parents as to why their children were not immediately evacuated from the school in light of the threats made.

As the SRO entrusted with the safety of 1600 people at any given time the decision to shelter in place was the most prudent course of action for this incident. I realize it’s very difficult to take emotion out of this discussion but it must be done to understand the logic behind risk mitigation and safety layers.

Unfortunately we must take into account the goal of extreme school violence, to gain the most notoriety by the most media attention by the most casualties. In a recent FBI active shooter class it was said that the foreign terrorist attack and the domestic attack on schools are starting to trend off of each other.

This does not mean that little Johnny and Chechnya Freedom Fighters are training together but they are studying each other’s “MO’s” or the ways they accomplish their goals.

Based on lessons learned from overseas combat and domestic incidents the two major factors why a decision may be made to lock down in place are the very makeup and behavior of an explosive and second, the concern of the initial threat being a trap or diversionary tactic.
Normally, your average person has no idea how much explosive would be needed to level a building.

The amount needed to have an impact on a building made of concrete and cement (Naugy High), even something as powerful as military grade c4 or semtex could not be carried in by an individual. It would need to be brought in by the truckload to be able to penetrate through several classroom walls (also solid brick and mortar).

Explosives are similar to people in that they take the path of least resistance. In training it is taught to be two features away, two features being two turns or corners away.

This is because after detonation the force is expanding outward on the easiest path and just like a pool ball, the more sides it hits the faster it loses energy. Knowing this, is why when you read about overseas bombings are primarily two targets, open crowded spaces like markets (no surfaces to deflect the energy off of) or very tight, crowded, confined spaces like buses for the energy to keep bouncing around in.

Understanding the physics of it; our biggest concern is packed hallways during an evacuation. Now the bad guy would have his goal completed with minimal explosives and maximum people, a much higher probability then sneaking 500 to 1000 pound bomb unnoticed into a school. The far more likely scenario is the small book bag in the hallway that could not hold enough explosive to go through several feet of concrete into a classroom to cause serious injuries.

Even our solid wooden doors would cause major deflection of the force to travel down our long hallways until it dissipates. That explosion could ripple freely down long corridors packed with students which is what we want to avoid.

Understanding the physics of explosives better is also why we don’t want our students in a wide open field with no cover. It also leads to our second issue of diversionary tactics or the bomb actually waiting in our safe zone. Until adequate resources can be acquired to completely sweep the safe zones and secure them from possible shooters or bombs we have just “put them from the frying pan into the flame.”

As I said above I know this is not an easy topic, nor is it something we want to ponder in detail but we must provide as many safety layers as possible and try to think several moves ahead of the bad guys.

A four sided; several feet thick cement and brick classroom is safer than creating a target rich environment in a hallway or open field packed with our most precious resource. When I took my posting as the school resource officer I often joked that I went from having no kids to 1300 of my own. My first priority is ensuring every student and staff member’s safety and will give my last breath to ensure this. Stay Safe everyone.