Bullet-Proof Shields Distributed To Iredell Schools By Sheriff

MOORESVILLE, NC — The Iredell County Sheriff’s Office has distributed bullet-proof ballistic shields to the county’s elementary schools in a new initiative it says will help first responders in the event of an active-shooter situation.

Iredell County Sheriff Darren Campbell announced the plan to outfit the elementary schools with the portable ballistic shields in April, and said they were purchased with $45,000 in seized drug money.

“The logic in doing this was to have the resources at the schools ahead of the threat so when responders arrive they would already have the tools they need to confront a threat immediately,” the Sheriff’s office said in a statement May 31.

According to Campbell, 70 percent of active shooter incidents conclude within five minutes. “This means we have to place physical barriers between students and the threat who is seeking to hurt them,” he said.

Schools across the nation are rethinking security measures and protocols for the growing familiarity of school violence after 17 people were shot to death at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida in February. The massacre prompted a massive wave of national protest calling for stricter gun laws in 800 cities across the U.S. last month and promises to be a pivotal issue for many voters in upcoming midterm elections.

"This is just another way we are hardening our schools in an effort to make our schools here in Iredell County more secure," Campbell said in April. "By pre-deploying these assets, we are taking efforts to protect the schools who do not, at this point, have a full-time school resource deputy assigned to them."

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According to Campbell, the shields would be used by sheriff's deputies or other law enforcement officers responding to an active shooting situation. "They can also be used to increase the survivability of the students and staff when used to shield them while going through lockdown procedures or evacuating the schools," Campbell said.

They aren’t just for law enforcement. School staff will be trained to use them and also how law enforcement officers would use them during an active shooter incident, he said.

"We hear a lot of talk from a lot of people about how we are going to protect our children and school staffs," Campbell said. "This step among others, hopefully shows we, as a sheriff's office, recognize the evolving threats to our schools and are taking tangible steps to prevent and mitigate violent events from occurring in them."

School security companies have become a major growth market since the February shooting in Parkland, Florida, the New York Times reports. School administrators have been bombarded with sales pitches for security options from bulletproof whiteboards to metal detectors to bulletproof panels for kids' backpacks.

How big is the civilian body armor market? According to the newspaper, it was valued at about $72.2 million in 2016, which is a figure expected to double within the next six years.
You can read more about the New York Times report here.

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Photo courtesy of the Iredell County Sheriff's Office