Man accused of detonating explosive device at Piqua High School in custody after standoff
By Kristen Spicker, July 2, 2024
A man was arrested during a standoff early Tuesday after he reportedly detonated an explosive device at Piqua High School, setting it on fire.
No injuries were reported at the school, according to Piqua police.
Grady William Douglas Egerton, 20, of Piqua, is facing unlawful possession of a dangerous ordnance, inducing panic, vandalism and arson charges, according to Miami County Municipal Court records.
He’s accused of making an explosive device and detonating it Monday at Piqua High School. Crews were called to the high school around 7:33 p.m. Monday after a caller reported flames inside the building, according to police records.
Missouri governor vetoes school safety initiative to fund gun-detection surveillance systems
By David A. Lieb, June 28, 2024, Updated 7:17 p.m. EDT
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Gov. Mike Parson vetoed funding Friday for a school safety initiative that would have used video surveillance software to detect guns, becoming the second governor in as many months to balk at implementing the technology.
The Republican governor’s rejection of the proposed $2.5 million grant program for public schools was one of 173 line-item vetoes he announced while signing a roughly $50 billion state budget for the fiscal year that starts Monday. The veto of the gun-detection grants came after Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, struck down a $5 million appropriation for a similar program.
The budget bills in both states were supported by ZeroEyes, a technology firm founded by military veterans after the fatal shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. ZeroEyes uses surveillance cameras and artificial intelligence to spot people with guns and alert school administrators and law enforcement officers.
Unarmed Security Officer Training: De-escalation v. Self Defense v. Defensive Tactics
Which type of training should unarmed campus security officers receive? Here are the pros and cons of de-escalation, self defense, and defensive tactics.
By Andy Altizer, Jim Hodge and Tim Murphy, June 27, 2024
Police officers complete a variety of important training, including de-escalation and defensive tactics. This training prepares them for a variety of confrontations and assaults. Dealing with angry and/or aggressive people is not a pleasant part of the job, but it is, indeed, part of the job, and training to prepare for such situations is critical.
What about campus unarmed security officers? Are they expected to intervene in potentially dangerous situations? Are they charged with protecting others by putting themselves in danger? The answer to these questions depends a lot on the environment and expectations placed on security officers.
Regardless of the campus security officers’ assignment, they should be prepared to defend themselves, or others, in worst cases scenarios. But, what type of training should they undergo?
Middle schoolers impersonate teachers in lewd, homophobic, racist TikTok videos, officials say
Great Valley Middle School students created fake TikTok accounts impersonating 22 teachers, officials said
By David Chang, July 8,2024
Students at a Chester County middle school created fake TikTok accounts of teachers in which they made lewd, racist and homophobic videos, officials confirmed.
The New York Times first reported on Saturday, July 6, that eighth grade students at Great Valley Middle School in Malvern, Pennsylvania, impersonated teachers at the school in TikTok videos that included allusions to pedophilia, racist memes, homophobic statements and false claims of sexual hookups. A spokesperson for the Great Valley School District confirmed in a statement that 22 fictitious TikTok accounts were created impersonating their teachers.
-- In Missouri the Missouri Court of Appeals affirmed that school officials were liable for the injuries of a student who was struck by a passing car after unloading from a school bus. The incident occurred when a substitute driver, left uninformed about the proper drop-off location, stopped the school bus at the wrong location. This required students “to cross two lanes of traffic.” A car struck a nine-year-old fourth-grade student and fled from the scene. The jury awarded the student $1.3 million in damages. The appellate court held that the rule of law is that, “to prevail on a negligence claim, the plaintiff must establish (1) the defendant owed a duty to him or her; (2) the defendant breached that duty; (3) causation; and (4) “injury” or “actual damages.” Negligence occurred because, “providing school bus drivers sufficient information as to its students’ designated school bus stops, such as via the route sheet, was necessary to protect (students) from injury.” The school argued that the “passing car driver's conduct was an intervening cause breaking the causal connection between (student’s) injuries and (school’s) negligence. The court disagreed. The duty of the school “arose from the bus contract, by its own conduct, and its requirement to exercise due care to avoid foreseeable injury.” As such, “the passing car driver's conduct is not an intervening cause breaking the causal connection between (student’s) injuries and (school’s) negligence.” Jackson v. First Student, Inc.
-- In Massachusetts, the United States Court of Appeals upheld the validity of hate speech provisions in a public school dress code. The issue arose when school district officials enforced the dress code to prevent students in two middle schools from wearing shirts which read “There Are Only Two Genders,” then from wearing shirts with words “Only Two” covered by tape on which was written “CENSORED.” The lower court applied the case of Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, ruling that educators had authority to enforce the dress code “to protect against the invasion of the rights of other students to a safe and secure educational environment.” The appellate court affirmed because of “an extensive body of federal court caselaw that applies Tinker in circumstances -- akin to those present in this case -- involving passive and silently expressed messages by students that do not target specific students but that assertedly demean other students' personal characteristics, like race, sex, religion, or sexual orientation.” The rule going forward is that educators, “must have some margin to make high-stakes assessments in conditions of inevitable uncertainty.” The court went on to hold that, “we don't think a school is required to prove that unless the speech at issue is forbidden serious consequences will in fact ensue… It is enough for the school to present facts which might reasonably lead school officials to forecast substantial disruption.” The appellate court concluded that, “the message in this school context would so negatively affect the psychology of young students with the demeaned gender identities that it would poison the educational atmosphere.”L.M. v. Town of Middleborough
-- In Alabama, school officials are planning to deploy metal detectors on campuses after an incident in January 2024 in which “a student at Leflore High School … opened fire in the hallway, shooting two students.”
-- In Iowa, a new school safety law increases the penalties for swatting. “Swatting” is the act of making a prank call to 911 in an attempt to bring about the dispatch of a large number of armed police officers to a school. Under SF 2161, “charges for swatting are bumped from a misdemeanor to a Class D Felony, which could come with up to five years in prison. If somebody is injured or even killed as a result of a swatting call, then that becomes a Class C Felony with a prison sentence of up to 10 years.”
MGT-412: SPORT AND SPECIAL EVENT EVACUATION AND PROTECTIVE ACTIONS
The Sport and Special Event Evacuation and Protective Actions course helps sport and special event managers prepare and/or enhance their event action plan through incorporation of flexible and scalable protective measures. These measures can be used in isolation or in response to a larger, multi-agency response initiative. This innovative course helps venue operators, first responders, emergency managers, law enforcement, contractors, promoters, and owners of events to collaborate on evacuation and sheltering plans with actionable decision criteria that can be adapted for almost any event.
Date: Aug 20-21, 2024, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Location: Magnolia Volunteer Fire Company, Magnolia, DE 19962
Please join the National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) as we release new guidance for state & local law enforcement to prevent targeted violence
July 31, 2024, 1 - 2:30 p.m. ET | Virtual
Please join NTAC for a presentation of our latest publication, "Behavioral Threat Assessment Units: A Guide for State and Local Law Enforcement to Prevent Targeted Violence." Releasing July 31, 2024, the guide offers a scalable six-step framework for state and local law enforcement agencies to proactively identify and intervene with those who display threatening or concerning behavior in their communities. In this free virtual event, we will outline actionable steps and offer principles and best practices to support the violence prevention efforts of our state and local partners.
All who register will receive a Microsoft Teams event link by email one day prior to the event.
Join The I Love U Guys Foundation at their upcoming Briefings Symposium on Sept. 5-6, 2024, in San Mateo, CA. This symposium goes beyond a typical conference; it's an immersive learning experience that brings together individuals from across the country who are passionate about keeping their schools and communities safe.
Don't miss two days of inspiring keynotes, training on the Standard Response Protocol (SRP) and Standard Reunification Method (SRM), and ample opportunities for networking with foundation staff and peers in the school and community safety space. This is an amazing chance to gain actionable insights into enhancing the safety of your organization and those in it.
The book draws its inspiration from stoicism, the ancient Greek philosophy of enduring pain or adversity with perseverance and resilience. Stoics focus on the things they can control, let go of everything else, and turn every new obstacle into an opportunity to get better, stronger, tougher. As Marcus Aurelius put it nearly 2,000 years ago: “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”
Ryan Holiday shows us how some of the most successful people in history—from John D. Rockefeller to Amelia Earhart to Ulysses S. Grant to Steve Jobs—have applied stoicism to overcome difficult or even impossible situations. Their embrace of these principles ultimately mattered more than their natural intelligence, talents, or luck.
If you’re feeling frustrated, demoralized, or stuck in a rut, this book can help you turn your problems into your biggest advantages. And along the way it will inspire you with dozens of true stories of the greats from every age and era.
