The Coalition of the Swilling

I'm not going to go into recriminations or second guessing, but I will note that two major problems I've seen with response plans in general are:

1. The lack of flexibility in executing them. People think that they have to Follow. The. Plan. Exactly. Or they call and ask you what to do next. And God help you if you even breath the word "initiative".

2. The rejection of the worse case scenario, because the measures might disrupt business as usual (ignoring the fact that "business as usual" might not be possible in the first place, naturally). I see this all the time; I either get a "Oh, that will never happen!" comment, or a terminal case of glazed eyes.

So, y'know, I am not surprised by that comment. Not at all.

Indeed, Gunslinger. I am not convinced that "lock down" procedures work, they may do nothing more than lock down victims so they can't get away.

But I am absolutely 100% convinced that "gun-free zones", as UVa is, guarantee helpless victims. I've yet to see a massacre at a gun club.

Hmmmm.

1. Every college student and teacher has a cellphone.

2. Register the cellphone #'s.

3. Sign up with a commercial service that will broadcast a verbal message to every cellphone on a list.

4. If every single cellphone on a campus starts ringing at the same time, everyone knows to get out of dodge ASAP without even having to answer the call.

"Get out of dodge ASAP"?

Where to exactly? This makes even less sense than a "plan."

Yes, let's alert everyone on campus to get out of dodge, before we've completed a preliminary investigation, because, for now on, we know that any incident will escalate out of any previously know proportion, as the sensible thing is to act irrationally on random guesses.

Makes sense to you? didn't think so.

Hmmm.

The very first step in any action is preparation. If you're prepared then any subsequent action is both quicker and more efficient.

1. They found two dead people in a dorm shot by a firearm and without a firearm being on the crime scene. That's generally a good indication that it's not a suicide and there's someone walking around with a firearm.

2. They could, using the previous example, notify everyone on campus, leaving campus or commuting to the campus that a double homicide has taken place with an unknown gunman who might still be on the premises.

3. As soon as new shots were fired in the Norris building they could use the same exact system to notify everyone that shots are being fired in the Norris building and to self-evacuate all nearby facilities.

...

I suggest that this is far more efficient than having people stuck in classrooms, like a veal, completely ignorant that a gunman is walking about shooting people. If nothing else barricading the bloody damn door would have probably saved most of the people shot because the shooter would be shooting blindly into the classrooms.

Don't you think it would be better to be in a BARRICADED classroom (that still astounds me ~ one person said they were all too frightened to block the door, just kept asking "do you think we ought to...?"), because ~ in theory of course ~ how could you tell everyone to remain in place withOUT letting them know why? I think that would be hugely preferable to people running willy-nilly from said classroom. And what if this guy had picked people off during his stroll across campus? Wouldn't that be putting more bodies at risk?