4 ms·

We had one in Quebec, Canada (~2012). It was in high school though and we did not do an actual drill, only had a police officer come and explain the situation,

by belval 5y ago

We had one in Quebec, Canada (~2012). It was in high school though and we did not do an actual drill, only had a police officer come and explain the situation, what could happen and how to handle it, etc... Each door had a little cardboard thing to cover the window in case of an active shooter situation to prevent them from peaking in.

eatonphil 5y ago
If the cardboard doesn't always cover the window wouldn't it be clear that only rooms with people inside would have the cardboard cover applied? It's not like you could rely on everyone having gone to every door to apply the cardboard cover to all rooms that don't have people in them.
- brimble 5y ago
  It's to prevent someone from aiming shots through the door by looking through the window. They could still fire through it randomly, of course.
  - eatonphil 5y ago
    Ah that makes sense.
  - mywittyname 5y ago
    The first shot through the window is going to blow away the cardboard. If it doesn't, the person can push it out with their hands. Most of this is security theater. Consultants get paid millions of dollars to come up with this nonsense that doesn't hold up to an ounce of scrutiny.
    - brimble 5y ago
      Oh, I don't think it's an especially good idea, I just think that's the notion behind it. I expect most of what goes on with these is marginally helpful in a real situation, at best, and few measures pass even a very generous cost/benefit analysis, and that's before you factor in psychological harm. If this particular effort is effective, I expect it has more to do with discouraging shooters from firing in the first place (they may hesitate to "waste" shots on a window if they aren't sure people are behind it) or to slow them down. For exactly the reasons you note, I don't see it being very effective against someone who's decided that they definitely are going to shoot into that room.
- jerf 5y ago
  Also, I don't think there's a lot of schools out there with some sort of abundance of empty rooms that the shooter can eliminate this way. Rooms tend to end up used.
- belval 5y ago
  From what I can recall, their tips were questionable at best. I remember the police telling us that the shooter thought he was playing Call of Duty in real life and that by covering the windows it meant he "couldn't go into that room" or something. In another class, the police officer was like "eh it's just so it's not obvious that there are 30 easy targets in your class, if I wanted to enter I could just blow up that lock with my gun". I wonder what kind of briefing they had before presenting.

by belval 5y ago

eatonphil 5y ago

If the cardboard doesn't always cover the window wouldn't it be clear that only rooms with people inside would have the cardboard cover applied? It's not like you could rely on everyone having gone to every door to apply the cardboard cover to all rooms that don't have people in them.

brimble 5y ago
It's to prevent someone from aiming shots through the door by looking through the window. They could still fire through it randomly, of course.
- eatonphil 5y ago
  Ah that makes sense.
- mywittyname 5y ago
  The first shot through the window is going to blow away the cardboard. If it doesn't, the person can push it out with their hands. Most of this is security theater. Consultants get paid millions of dollars to come up with this nonsense that doesn't hold up to an ounce of scrutiny.
  - brimble 5y ago
    Oh, I don't think it's an especially good idea, I just think that's the notion behind it. I expect most of what goes on with these is marginally helpful in a real situation, at best, and few measures pass even a very generous cost/benefit analysis, and that's before you factor in psychological harm. If this particular effort is effective, I expect it has more to do with discouraging shooters from firing in the first place (they may hesitate to "waste" shots on a window if they aren't sure people are behind it) or to slow them down. For exactly the reasons you note, I don't see it being very effective against someone who's decided that they definitely are going to shoot into that room.
jerf 5y ago
Also, I don't think there's a lot of schools out there with some sort of abundance of empty rooms that the shooter can eliminate this way. Rooms tend to end up used.
belval 5y ago
From what I can recall, their tips were questionable at best. I remember the police telling us that the shooter thought he was playing Call of Duty in real life and that by covering the windows it meant he "couldn't go into that room" or something. In another class, the police officer was like "eh it's just so it's not obvious that there are 30 easy targets in your class, if I wanted to enter I could just blow up that lock with my gun". I wonder what kind of briefing they had before presenting.