County prepared for disaster at schools
By Staff
Jason Cannon, Franklin County Times
Thirty-two students, including the gunman, were killed on the Virginia Tech Campus in Blacksburg, Va., Monday morning in the largest mass murder in U.S. history.
Cho Seung-hui, a 23 year-old Korean student, took his own life as Virginia State Police closed in on the scene.
Monday's event marked the deadliest school violence since the Columbine High School attack that left 15 students dead.
Since that event in 1999 schools around the world have taken a look at their school security policies and tried to beef them up.
"Things have definitely changed," Russellville Police Chief Chris Hargett said. "Now, I think everyone is more aware that things like this can happen everywhere."
Franklin County Sheriff Larry Plott agreed.
"I would say the way that these situations are handled on all levels has changed," he said.
Both Hargett and Plott said training regimens involving schools have increased over the years, and now the Russellville Police and the county's Special Response Team conduct rigorous training at schools all over the county on a regular basis.
"We conduct training at the schools several times a year and the SRT trains at schools all over the county in different parts of the school," Hargett said. "You get to know the layout of the building a little better, which is helpful should you have to go in on a live situation."
Plott said the amount of training and cooperation each department receives is crucial to defusing the volatile situation.
"Having the SRT, with each department dedicating man power, along with the (District Attorney's) Office is like going all in one motion," he said. "It's organized and everyone knows what's going on."
Plott said one problem many people don't realize is that while some law enforcement is on the front lines, there is another team that has to be made ready to answer questions.
"What you're dealing with is really two situations," he said. "The public and the situation itself. When something like this happens at a school, you're going to have parents that want to know how their children are, where they are, if they are injured, what hospital they've been taken to and you've got to account for all of that."
Plott added that all of the county's law enforcement agencies have plans in place should an event similar to the one in Blacksburg happen in Russellville or any where else in the county.
