Nazarene High School Prepares Students for Possible Intruder
An intruder found himself on the compound of Nazarene High School in Belize City this afternoon. He was subsequently subdued by two GSU officers as part of a simulation. The school designed its Security Intruder Tactical Training program in order to teach students what to do if an armed intruder entered the school compound. The simulation tested the knowledge and response time of the faculty, staff and student body in a real-life event. So did they pass? Or do they need more training? News Five’s Hipolito Novelo reports.
Hipolito Novelo, Reporting
Security is being ramped up at Nazarene High School in Belize City after an intruder hopped the school’s fence and made his way to a classroom last week.
Shihan Kelly
Shihan Kelly, Security Director, Nazarene High School
“Subsequently security got involved and the police got involved. That action itself prompted me as the director to put a program together for the high school which is the Security Intruder Tactical Training.”
Over five hundred students have been receiving training and today their knowledge and response were put to the test. Security Director at the school, Shihan Kelly, designed a simulation whereby an intruder was being chased by GSU officers on school grounds.
Shihan Kelly
“The scenario is that there was a foot chase from outside by law enforcement. The individual in that foot chase came unto school property. The security guard then radioed that information in to the base or the administration building. The administration building then went ahead over the intercom and, a program that the school has in place, started informing the entire school through the intercom system that intruder lockdown. That is the signal automatically for all the teachers to go on lockdown mode to secure and take care of their student which is the primary responsibility of the teachers here on the campus, safety.”
After the intruder was successfully subdued, the all clear was given. Counselors were deployed to the classrooms to assist any student who had been left traumatized. This too was part of the Security Intruder Tactical Training. According to Kelly, after a post-mortem of today’s simulation, there is still room for improvement at Nazarene High.
Shihan Kelly
“To see them all in action in a real life scenario where there is a foot chase and where the weapons that were drawn. By the way those were simulated weapons. Don’t let anybody get it twisted. I just did a compliance situation, exercise. Compliance meaning that the intruder complying with the officer’s request. Imagine this was a gunman who came on the campus. And I’ll go little lower, a gunman on the campus at an elementary school. Time is critical when you have an armed individual involved. Time is critical because if an individual comes to a school armed, he is coming not to a party. He is coming there not to say hello. He is coming for a purpose and that purpose is going to be very negative at the end of the day. At Nazarene High School I have to give is a nine. Always room for improvement if you go from a scale of one to ten. I have to give it a nine.”
Hipolito Novelo, News Five.
