HomeMy WebLinkAbout111422 FW_ Please act to ensure Jefferson County is prepared for a mass shooting event
________________________________
From: David Tonkin
Sent: Monday, November 14, 2022 4:54:03 PM (UTC-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada)
To: Kate Dean; Greg Brotherton; Heidi Eisenhour
Cc: Carolyn Gallaway; Adiel F. McKnight
Subject: Please act to ensure Jefferson County is prepared for a mass shooting event
________________________________
ALERT: BE CAUTIOUS This email originated outside the organization. Do not open attachments or click on links if you are not expecting them.
________________________________
To the Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners
I believe the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office (JCSO) has had a policy in effect for some time that requires JCSO to prepare a plan to deal with an active shooter event. I also understand
that no plan has been put into effect, or even prepared. Other county agencies may not be prepared any more than JCSO. Our county government may not think it could happen here but they
did not think it would happen in Uvalde, Texas either.
Not only has JCSO not prepared a plan, it has done no training or any kind of coordination with other law enforcement agencies (e.g., Port Townsend Police Department, Washington State
Patrol), other first responders (e.g., East Jefferson Fire Rescue), schools, hospitals, county government facilities, or any other organizations.
The Chimacum School District has recently held mass shooter training that was conducted by a certified ALICE (Active Shooter Preparedness | ALICE Training® Solutions <https://www.alicetraining.com/>
) instructor. Begun in 2000, ALICE Training® is a widely adopted, effective method of active shooter response training. ALICE Training® is now a part of Navigate360’s suite of safety
programs for schools, workplaces and other communities. ALICE stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate (What Does ALICE Stand For? | How to Apply the ALICE Drill Acronym
| ALICE Training <https://www.alicetraining.com/news/do-you-know-what-a-l-i-c-e-stands-for/> ). To be truly effective any training whether utilizing the ALICE program or some other
program must be coordinated with appropriate training of first responders and healthcare providers.
Please issue a directive to all first responder organizations in the county, especially JCSO, that requires them to prepare a plan for training and response for any active mass shooter
event, and to coordinate that training with each other, hospitals, schools, county government facilities, and workplaces such as grocery stores, restaurants, and the Port Townsend Paper
Company mill. Specify that the plan be completed and submitted to the BOCC for approval by the end of February 2023. The directive should also specify that training drills be conducted
within the first responder organizations beginning in March 2023 followed by coordinated training between first responders and the Chimacum School District and other organizations.
The schedule for active shooter planning and training must be incorporated into any strategic plan prepared by first responders and other county government organizations.
Respectfully,
David Tonkin
32 S. Stromberg Ave., Port Townsend, WA 98368
Home Phone: 360-385-2468