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Is your spouse cool with that line of thinking? It's legit, odds are nothing bad will happen but we live in a fear based society anymore... I live in a fairly

Is your spouse cool with that line of thinking? It's legit, odds are nothing bad will happen but we live in a fear based society anymore... I live in a fairly well-to-do bedroom community, it's a rural area a short drive from some bigger cities in Colorado. The neighborhood nextdoor.com info is an interesting read. The sheriff (we don't have town police, it's a small place, 5000ish people) is called for ringing and running, that's like the main offense. It seems like there are fears when there are work men of color in the area doing things (building new houses, etc..) it appears that their presence correlates to the crime of breaking in to cars in neighboring cities, at least in the minds of some. I can confess there is a slight feeling of isolation at times, like if you had a problem you couldn't solve, it could take 15-30minutes for a police officer to help you but in 8 years I'm unaware of such a problem happening in the town. For the most part it is insanely safe, like you could leave your doors unlocked and expect no issues. When my son get's on the school bus, he has to swipe a badge. They can track where he get's on a bus and where he get's off. That's what we've come to. They have 4 different kinds of "drills." There is the fire drill we all grew up with. There is "lock down" where they all stay in their class rooms and lock the doors. There is a harder form of that where they stay in the class rooms, lock all the doors and windows and the try to hide. Then there is a drill where they go in the school basement, being that there are tornados in the area from time to time that's not too unreasonable but the staff is open with parents that it's for the event that there is some sort of a disturbance that is used to draw kids outside to attack in the open. The school itself (this is K-5) has locks on all doors, you have to buzz in, or swipe a badge at any time of day. It's all in how you look at it, I guess. The technology is fairly inexpensive and if it helps with anything, then maybe it seems worth it. It's definitely playing in to the culture of fear that exists though. What's really shocking, at least to me, is how cool everyone seems to be with everything. We got emails from the school when the did some of the drills, just to let us know our kids might tell us about something odd that they did. I can't imagine how they'd possibly let middle-school or younger kids on public transportation around here.

Afton 11y ago
My spouse agrees with my logic, but occasionally has pangs of visceral concern. We discuss these issues like adults. :)
- Nelson69 11y ago
  My wife has those same pangs of concern from time to time. That balance of the logic vs those pangs of concern is interesting. I think it can be easy to let the concern outweigh the logic.
TeMPOraL 11y ago
> The school itself (this is K-5) has locks on all doors, you have to buzz in, or swipe a badge at any time of day. > The technology is fairly inexpensive and if it helps with anything, then maybe it seems worth it. I expect they realize that and solved this problem (I'm interested in knowing how), but one of the main thing that worries me with policies of locking everything up is fire safety. When you have a building with many people, there should always be a path from any point outside to the evacuation area that has as little obstructions as possible (preferably zero, but that's not always applicable - e.g. areas handling classified information or dangerous objects). I always cringe when I see locked doors on evacuation path - with a panicking crowd, it's a disaster waiting to happen.
- Sargos 11y ago
  It sounds like you have to swipe to get in but not to get out. That's how most security doors I've seen work.
- Kluny 11y ago
  What worries me is how hard it is to get in to rescue someone who got lost in the rush after everyone else was evacuated. It's not that easy to break through panes of glass.
vidarh 11y ago
Yikes, and I find the UK level of security over the top (basic locked school gates; parents/guardians or childminders must bring and pick up; children are not released otherwise). (EDIT: This is primary school) My brothers kids are 7 and 5 and live in Norway where I'm from, and the older is allowed to leave school by himself (the school has no fences and no gates, granted this is a relatively rural school, but unlocked gates is the norm pretty much everywhere in Norway, and 6-7 years olds are generally allowed to go to/from school by themselves - when I was 7 I had a 30 minute walk to/from school every day). He'll walk to the nearby nursery and pick up his 5 year old sister and they'll walk home together (10-15 minute walk).
- semi-extrinsic 11y ago
  This. I grew up in rural Norway, and our elementary school playground was (and still is) right on the edge of the forest, with no fences. And we're talking a proper 200 square mile forest, with mooses, deer, cliffs, marshes, lakes, rivers, the lot. I ran away from school into the forest once; came back after a couple of hours. Got a stern talk and a note home.

Afton 11y ago

My spouse agrees with my logic, but occasionally has pangs of visceral concern. We discuss these issues like adults. :)

Nelson69 11y ago
My wife has those same pangs of concern from time to time. That balance of the logic vs those pangs of concern is interesting. I think it can be easy to let the concern outweigh the logic.

TeMPOraL 11y ago

> The school itself (this is K-5) has locks on all doors, you have to buzz in, or swipe a badge at any time of day. > The technology is fairly inexpensive and if it helps with anything, then maybe it seems worth it. I expect they realize that and solved this problem (I'm interested in knowing how), but one of the main thing that worries me with policies of locking everything up is fire safety. When you have a building with many people, there should always be a path from any point outside to the evacuation area that has as little obstructions as possible (preferably zero, but that's not always applicable - e.g. areas handling classified information or dangerous objects). I always cringe when I see locked doors on evacuation path - with a panicking crowd, it's a disaster waiting to happen.

Sargos 11y ago
It sounds like you have to swipe to get in but not to get out. That's how most security doors I've seen work.
Kluny 11y ago
What worries me is how hard it is to get in to rescue someone who got lost in the rush after everyone else was evacuated. It's not that easy to break through panes of glass.

vidarh 11y ago

Yikes, and I find the UK level of security over the top (basic locked school gates; parents/guardians or childminders must bring and pick up; children are not released otherwise). (EDIT: This is primary school) My brothers kids are 7 and 5 and live in Norway where I'm from, and the older is allowed to leave school by himself (the school has no fences and no gates, granted this is a relatively rural school, but unlocked gates is the norm pretty much everywhere in Norway, and 6-7 years olds are generally allowed to go to/from school by themselves - when I was 7 I had a 30 minute walk to/from school every day). He'll walk to the nearby nursery and pick up his 5 year old sister and they'll walk home together (10-15 minute walk).

semi-extrinsic 11y ago
This. I grew up in rural Norway, and our elementary school playground was (and still is) right on the edge of the forest, with no fences. And we're talking a proper 200 square mile forest, with mooses, deer, cliffs, marshes, lakes, rivers, the lot. I ran away from school into the forest once; came back after a couple of hours. Got a stern talk and a note home.