Members of the Arkansas School Safety Commission started their meeting on Tuesday by reviewing the timeline of events in the Uvalde shooting.A high schooler killed 19 students and two teachers in that shooting. It took law enforcement about one hour and twenty-three minutes to stop him.”These officers initially tried to go in, they were shot out through the door from what I understand,” Bill Hollenbeck, a commission member, said. “And I think that stopped the momentum.Hollenbeck is police chief for Fort Smith and was formerly the Sebastian County sheriff.He believes it would be best if officers across the state all had the same training.”Some of the lessons that we’re learning from Uvalde clearly indicate that some sort of unified training system that all officers are on the same page will respond to an active shooter appropriately and then that’s obviously to immediately engage the suspect and stop the threat,” Hollenbeck said.Washington County Sheriff Tim Helder agreed.”From my perspective, we’ve got to have a law enforcement or at least trained armed people that can immediately respond,” Helder said.Members of the commission are reaching out to police departments and school resource officers across the state, asking if they have the equipment they would need to respond to a school shooting.”If we expect our officers to go in there, which we do, we have to give them equipment to survive to make sure that it’s a successful operation,” Hollenbeck said.The commission will deliver its interim report to the governor on Aug. 1. The final report and recommendations are due Oct. 1.
Members of the Arkansas School Safety Commission started their meeting on Tuesday by reviewing the timeline of events in the Uvalde shooting.
A high schooler killed 19 students and two teachers in that shooting. It took law enforcement about one hour and twenty-three minutes to stop him.
“These officers initially tried to go in, they were shot out through the door from what I understand,” Bill Hollenbeck, a commission member, said. “And I think that stopped the momentum.
Hollenbeck is police chief for Fort Smith and was formerly the Sebastian County sheriff.
He believes it would be best if officers across the state all had the same training.
“Some of the lessons that we’re learning from Uvalde clearly indicate that some sort of unified training system that all officers are on the same page will respond to an active shooter appropriately and then that’s obviously to immediately engage the suspect and stop the threat,” Hollenbeck said.
Washington County Sheriff Tim Helder agreed.
“From my perspective, we’ve got to have a law enforcement or at least trained armed people that can immediately respond,” Helder said.
Members of the commission are reaching out to police departments and school resource officers across the state, asking if they have the equipment they would need to respond to a school shooting.
“If we expect our officers to go in there, which we do, we have to give them equipment to survive to make sure that it’s a successful operation,” Hollenbeck said.
The commission will deliver its interim report to the governor on Aug. 1. The final report and recommendations are due Oct. 1.
