Scary' intruder drill leaves Phillipsburg,NJ teachers upset, officials assured

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They did just as they were trained by running for cover and praying for their lives? There's no prayer in public schools!
 
They did just as they were trained by running for cover and praying for their lives? There's no prayer in public schools!
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Good point! No guns allowed. No prayer allowed. I guess that just leaves running for your life.
 
any heroic action would be met with loss of employment at the very least, massive legal defense fees and potential arrest and sentencing!
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That's great, try to save lives and you could lose your freedom and your job. But cower and die and you get a A+ for doing what your told.:fire:\

When will they unscrew their brain housing unit from their crevice?

I just hope it's not too late before they realize this training is WRONG, but we all know it usually takes something bad happening before things change.:(
 
Conrach posted "These sorts of drills are not limited to schools. My mother called me one day, stating that her place of work (a doctor's office) was going to have a "gunman drill", and she said she had some reservations. I found out that:

1. Management knew, but none of the staff was supposed to know.

2. The police were not to be informed in advance.

3. The gunman was to walk into the lobby, produce a realistic fake gun, and demand that the receptionist provide him with drugs.

I made her doublecheck that this was the case, becuase it just sounded too stupid to be real. She did, and it was. Turned out some state agency dreamed this up, so it was "official".

I pointed out a few flaws in this idea, which she duly sent to management:

1. You're doing this is a public place. What happens when you have an off duty or undercover cop in the waiting room?

2. You're doing this in a shall-issue CCW state, with LOTS of permits in circulation. What happens when you have a permit holder in the waiting room?

3. Is your receptionist a permit holder? Have you checked?

4. Who gets named as the defendant in the lawsuit for Old Mr. Magillicuddy when he has The Big One while witnessing this robbery? The Clerk of Courts wants to know.

5. Who gets named as the defendant when the role-player gets shot by the responding cops?

My mother said that the state agency representative who orchestrated this "had never thought of these things before" (!) and had never had any complaints from the other offices where they did this (!!), but he would confer with his superiors. A day later, the drill was officially cancelled.

I tell you, bureaucrats will get people killed. Period."

Mike
A BIG +1 to that. I spend a fair amount of time at various doctors. Stinks getting old, anyway if I were in the waiting room and I had a clear shot at the "gun waving actor" he would have been stopped.
 
They reacted to a masked gunman by praying? I wonder what caliber they were praying for?

Vatican Sued as role-play vaporized by lightning bolt. Episcopalians guarantee that their prayers won't harm anybody.

- :) - No offense to either sect. Just trying to be funny.

I remember an old bystander experiment where a guy runs into to a college classroom and grabs the teacher's purse. It was stopped when a mob charged after the guy to pound him.

I also personally know a prof that was going to run an eyewitness memory drill in class. Guy runs in with a blank gun and 'shoots' the teacher. Runs out and then you say what you saw. This was a night class full of cops. If it had happened much 158 gr round nose lead hilarity would have ensued. So the guy wouldn't get hurt as we know those runs are lousy stoppers. :D:D

We clued in the prof and it was cancelled. I had some of the cops in my class, they thought it would have been really funny.
 
So what happens later when a real gunman bursts in the room and no one reacts because it's just an actor?:eek:

Not that the end result would differ much from their "plan of action".
 
Merrick said the actor was not originally supposed to enter the library but only jiggle the door handles and fire blanks in the hallway. The door opened unexpectedly and the actor improvised to keep the drill moving, he said. (emphasis mine)

"When we do drills like this, we don't know what will be the reaction of people. These things happen," Merrick said.

He added that teachers are taught not to retaliate in such situations. If they had, he said, protocol was in place to handle it, although he wouldn't elaborate.

Despite the unplanned element of the actor entering the library, teachers followed protocol, Merrick said.
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So, the actor was only supposed to fire blanks in the hallway. Great. But if you don't want him going into the library and scaring people out of their wits, tell him so. Don't dress him up in a scary outfit with a gun. Use firecrackers outside, if you must.

And to think, these people are responsible for running a school. :banghead:

Re: protocol. Protocol, schmotocol. They seem awfully concerned with their "protocol" of hiding under desks. And look how effective it was. /sarcasm

Hopefully these schools will wise up lest they get someone killed. :fire:

So what happens later when a real gunman bursts in the room and no one reacts because it's just an actor?
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+1
 
This is pretty important as a study in the psychology of victimization.
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This is exactly what it is. It is terror being inflicted on people by the government, and training for people to cower and not do anything in response. It goes against human nature to not defend yourself, so it has to be trained.
 
They should have them do stretching exercises so they can bend over and kiss their rear ends goobye.
To think that anyone would allow themselves to be victimized is disgusting.
 
This makes me so angry that I cannot make a THR response.

If it happens around me I am going to assume it is real and kill him.
 
I don't have kids, but did the chaperone thing with my friend's daughter at her HS freshman dance. I can verify at least this school admin is full of idiots.

Now if I had a kid in that NJ school and some guy ran in with a gun shooting blanks, I'd sue the snot out of the system for that kind of distress. And I'm not sue happy like much of America today.:fire:
 
He is lucky a trained teacher, or student, didn't snap, and forget their taining. And charge the actor, and beat him with a chair leg! If you know you are going to die, get a few wacks in at least. How should I know it was a fake gun!
 
This is exactly what it is. It is terror being inflicted on people by the government, and training for people to cower and not do anything in response. It goes against human nature to not defend yourself, so it has to be trained.
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So, when did this become a government operation? The way I read it, it was the school that set up this drill.
 
what exactly was the appropriate trained response? Was it the 'pray for your life and hide under a desk' part?

I'm sure alot of you older gents and ladies remember the anti-Soviet missile drill that came with its own instructional video. "In the event of a nuclear blast, hide under your desk and see if your lips can actually reach your ass". You know, that video. Whatever training you are to enact while stuck in an open space like a library must be just as pointless as the missile drill part.
 
RP88 said:
what exactly was the appropriate trained response? Was it the 'pray for your life and hide under a desk' part?
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I am afraid it was.
 
On a serious note, Wow! This was a dumb idea. And it's pretty telling of the school administrators that it never even occured to them that one of their teachers would hurt this guy. Chair, laptop, text book, heck even a good pen (seen The Dark Knight?) There's plenty of ways this could go *very* bad for the actor if just one teacher decides to go out in a blaze of glory.
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Projection. They assume that everyone else would react just like they would: sob and grovel to the attacker to be allowed to live :fire: .

You know, I can understand someone freezing up in a dire situation and doing nothing. But what makes me truly ill is this planned, trained cowardice. Meanwhile, those that fight back, bravely, are villified. Absolutely disgusting, IMO.

I once got into a debate with someone that stated that they would do or say anything to stay alive in such a situation. They were shocked/horrified when I retorted that I'd rather die fighting on my feet than live the rest of my life knowing I had begged for my life on my knees.

It's hard for some people to believe that some things are worse than death. And trust me, I like my life, I want to live!

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One other thing, this school is in New Jersey. I thought all schools in NJ were gun free zones. So this kind of thing would never happen there! :rolleyes: :banghead:

Kind of indirectly admitting they are wrong, aren't they?
 
I wonder what the response of a teacher would be if on Monday a gunman bursts into their classroom and fires off a few shots? Will they think it is another intruder drill?
 
So I wonder what the teachers' union has to say about this situation??? Perhaps a few grieveances (sp?) filed with their union reps will rattle the school board and administration back into somewhat normal thinking.
 
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Just one more reason to LIMIT government, and not to turn your kids over to goverment schools.

I'm getting to where I don't want to be saved by any "well-meaning" idiots. I either prevail or go under. How could I do worse?:cuss:
 
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