The Key Components of A.R.C. Training Solutions
School Assessment
Assessment of the school’s weaknesses and vulnerabilities is the initial step taken to ensure the safety of the schools. A.R.C. will perform a thorough assessment of the building’s vulnerabilities and weaknesses, while identifying possible safe spaces for lockdown in addition to crucial exit points.
Dispatch & Communications
Upon taking a report of a dangerous situation, dispatch will notify all law enforcement, EMS, fire, MedAir, and other dispatchers of situation. They will coordinate road lockdowns of 1 mile out in the county, or several blocks in the city to ensure scene safety and integrity. Dispatch will notify the designated crisis and reunification sites regarding the situation and arranging transportation of buses from other schools to help with the effort. Dispatch will coordinate with law enforcement and fire on scene to aid the security for Helicopter Landing Zones (HLZs) after scene is safe, and establishing staging areas (overflow) for EMS, fire, and other law enforcement agencies.
Crisis Sites
During A.R.C. Training, each school will identify a predetermined site where students and staff can go to determine safety and accountability of everyone. The crisis site is a building that is close by the school so students and staff have a place readily available to go to that is safe from the school. The crisis site is large enough to accommodate everyone inside the school in case of a mass exodus. If the crisis site is not large enough, multiple sites will be assigned to each school until the requirement is met to sustain everyone in the school. Each site will be labeled to ensure proper communication between the sites and law enforcement. Each site will have a roster and will actively check off students as they are accounted for. Schools will have a roster of all students and staff present for that day, to include visitors. Once the crisis site is secured by law enforcement, everyone will be transported there. Buses from the school, and other schools, will help facilitate with the transportation to the crisis site, then the reunification site.
Reunification Sites
The reunification site is a building that can accommodate the school’s students and staff, away from the crisis site and the school. As the area will be on lockdown during and after the event, there needs to be a place that parents can come to be reunited with their children that is safe and separate from the school. The reunification site allows law enforcement to maintain security and integrity of the crime scene and enables law enforcement to focus on the scene without interference from family and loved ones of those involved.