Two months prior to the tragic shooting Steve Wexler, a retired secret service agent with 27 years experience in law enforcement, did a risk assessment at the school and they ignored all of his recommendations.
Stoneman Douglas High School recently celebrated their 2018 graduation and held a memorial in remembrance of those students who tragically lost their lives in the shooting earlier this year.
It has now been learned from an interview in the Sun Sentinel that a retired secret service agent that regularly speaks at the school regularly about law enforcement, warned them that they were vulnerable to a gunman.
"Gates were unlocked. Students did not wear identification badges. A fire alarm could send students streaming into the halls. Active-shooter drills were inadequate," he said.
As you know the shooter walked onto school grounds unchallenged and entered the building through an unlocked door. Apparently leaving gates and doors unlocked during the day was the case despite existing school policy that says gates are to be locked during the day.
In an interview with the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Wexler said that he was invited to analyze the school’s security and presented his recommendations to four staff members.
The retired agent, Steve Wexler, said " I made my point by strolling through the school with Post-it notes, attaching them to places my bullets or knife would land if I were an intruder. No one stopped me."
“I said, ‘This stuff is blatantly obvious. You’ve got to fix this,’” Wexler said.
Wexler said that he never heard another word from the district.
More and more we are learning that the school did not take action or follow school policies that could have saved lives. They failed to follow the recommendations of law enforcement. In short they failed the families with whom they were tasked with keeping their children safe.
Now a state commission wants to speak with Wexler. They are investigating the way that the Broward County Sheriff's Department handled the incident.
School district spokeswoman Tracy Clark said “a school administrator did discuss security recommendations from an individual last year.” She would not disclose and further details.
Wexler said that the school requested that he come and make the assessment, but did not tell him why. He said that he downloaded and printed school floor plans, school bell schedule and aerial photos of the building.
He arrived of Dec. 13th 2017 in his pick up truck early for his scheduled meeting. He parked in the visitors parking lot noting that the gate was standing open to the bus loop. He sat there for 20 minutes without being challenged or questioned by security. Finally he called the Assistant Principal Winfred Porter and requested that he be allowed to do a demonstration before their 1 PM meeting.
Porter climbed into the passenger seat and Wexler drove through the open gate into the bus loop. “Why the heck was it unlocked?" Wexler asked Porter. Demonstrating how easy it made it for him to drive right onto school grounds.
He walked into the school through an unlocked door carrying 20 post it notes with numbers on them. The first person that he saw was Assistant Principal Denise Reed. He handed her the post it note with the number "1" on it.
He proceeded down the hallway sticking post it notes on door jams, desks, and handing them to staff wandering around in the hallways.
“Nobody challenged me,” he said. “No one approached me — ‘Who are you?’”
By the time he'd reached the end of the hallway, he had run out of numbers.
“Mr. Porter, I ran out of numbers. You want me to keep going?” he asked. He had made his point.
Wexler met with Reed, the assistant principal; Porter; School Security Specialist Kelvin Greenleaf; and Sandra Davis, the social studies teacher who had made the call inviting him on campus. Their meeting lasted for and hour and a half and Wexler gave them his security recommendations and pointing out weaknesses that needed to be addressed. These are the recommendations that he gave the school.
— School gates should be locked, and students should wear ID badges showing they belong on campus. The schools’ policy requires gates to be locked during the day, but Wexler said he found they were not. The shooter on Feb. 14 was able to get on campus because the gates were opened at the end of the school day.
— Active-shooter drills should be routine. After the shooting, some students said they had not been involved in drills this year.
— Any adult should be able to declare a Code Red to lock down the school. Clark, the school district spokeswoman, said that is the current protocol, but Wexler said he was told an assistant principal notifies the principal, who then makes the call. “That’s a problem,” he said he told the staff. “This stuff happens fast. This playing telephone is no good. By that time we could sit down and have breakfast.”
— Schools should not immediately evacuate students for a fire alarm without first confirming there’s a fire. During the shooting, the gunfire set off the smoke alarm, and students fled into the halls, where the shooter could take aim.
"Forcing hundreds of children to descend into one open area could be a tactic of a shooter," Wexler said. “We learned that from Columbine. We know the first thing is a distraction. You don’t run out anymore. You shelter in place. You need to confirm that is why the alarm went off.”
source: The Sun Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/parkland/florida-school-shooting/fl-sb-douglas-secret-service-steve-wexler-20180605-story.html
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