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Field Operations Directives (FODs)

99-002 School Safety Coordinator


99-009 Search/Arrest Warrant Operations Plan Format for Field Operations Regions
99-001 Outside Agencies Bookings

SCHOOL SAFETY COORDINATOR

Purpose

The purpose of this directive is to establish policies and procedures for the position of “School Safety Coordinator” at all Sheriff’s stations. The goal of this position is to ensure that comprehensive planning takes place between the Sheriff’s Department and local school districts to enhance the safety of school students and staff.

Policy

Unit commanders shall designate a sergeant or lieutenant of the station’s staff as the “School Safety Coordinator.” This individual shall serve as the station’s coordinator and liaison for all significant school safety matters, including, but not limited to, acts of violence/armed suspects on campus, man-made disasters (i.e., airplane crash on campus, etc.) and natural disasters (i.e., earthquake, etc.). The School Safety Coordinator is responsible for development and ongoing updates to the station’s “School Safety Plan.”

Procedures

The following procedures shall be utilized for the position of School Safety Coordinator and for the preparation of the “School Safety Plan”:

  • The School Safety Coordinator will establish liaison with the administrative officers of local school districts and colleges, public and private (district officials, principals, deans, etc.) and shall meet regularly with school officials to ensure that new areas of concern are addressed by the school administration and the Sheriff’s Department. The School Safety Coordinator will be responsible for developing joint operations plans for response to campus emergencies as defined above. These response plans should be developed through the cooperative effort of the school administration, law enforcement and fire department personnel. They shall be designed as a framework for directing the activities of school, law enforcement, fire department and EMS personnel during a school emergency and will include:
    • Threat Assessment Team Roster, notification protocol and contact information:
      • Law Enforcement
      • School Administrator
      • School Psychologist
      • Other Mental Health Professional (i.e., MET Team)
      • School Counselor
      • School Nurse
      • Probation Department
      • Department of Children and Family Services
      • Any other team members
    • General responses that will at least address the following types of incidents:
      • Fire
      • HAZMAT Spills/Exposure
      • Active Shooter
      • Acts of Violence/Armed Suspect
      • Earthquake/Natural Disaster
      • Civil Disturbance (Protests)
      • Bomb Threats
      • Staging areas
      • Pre-designated evacuation sites
      • Potential tactical issues
      • Vehicular traffic issues
      • A notification roster of school officials
      • Complete maps of the school buildings
      • An overall campus map
  • All individual school plans shall be placed into a document called the “School Safety Plan,” which shall become the primary tactical/supervisory guide for station personnel in the event of a designated incident occurring on or adjacent to a campus. At a minimum, the document must be immediately available to the field supervisor, the watch sergeant, and the watch commander. This document shall also be available in a secure electronic format within the station’s shared files. Additionally, all field units shall have a folder which contains a current, separate map for every public and private pre-school, elementary, middle school, high school and college within the station’s area.
  • The plan shall be reviewed by school officials, and a signature of the school administrator at each site shall be obtained on the cover sheet of each school’s safety plan. If the administrator refuses to sign the plan as an acknowledgment of their review, the station’s School Safety Coordinator will meet with the administrator and explain the contents of the plan. If the administrator still refuses to sign the cover, a notation of the date and time and the words “Refused to
    • Sign” shall be placed on the cover of the plan. It is not the intent of the Department to make public the planned details of a station’s response at a particular location.
  • By November 1st of every year, the “School Safety Plan” shall be updated with current information, agreements, maps, etc. The cover page of the plan shall contain the signature of the unit commander, attesting that all revisions are current and to completeness of the document. Significant changes or new schools may require that the School Safety Coordinator revise the “School Safety Plan” more frequently than once per year.
  • The School Safety Coordinator shall meet regularly with school officials to ensure that new areas of concern are addressed by the school’s administration and the Sheriff’s Department. The School Safety Coordinator shall also be available to serve as the station’s representative at school district meetings, PTA’s, neighborhood groups or any other gathering where school safety issues as defined above will be discussed.
  • The School Safety Coordinator shall ensure that station level training, in conjunction with other local resources (School Administrators, Fire, EMS, CHP, etc.), be conducted on at least an annual basis to facilitate improved readiness and response capability in the event an emergency response to a school is necessary.
  • The School Safety Coordinator shall establish and maintain a communication system to inform schools of significant events occurring within the district area.

Unit Commander Responsibilities

Unit commanders are responsible for establishing unit-level training programs to ensure that appropriate field personnel are familiar with the “School Safety Plan” and “Rapid Response Team Deployment” and can immediately implement their provisions should that become necessary. Unit commanders are encouraged to develop school safety plans that go beyond the minimum requirements of this directive.

Inspection

Each station’s “School Safety Plan” and the plan’s training program will be reviewed yearly by the Emergency Operations Bureau as part of the Command Inspection process for station training.

Specific questions regarding the contents of this Field Operation Directive should be directed to the Field Operations Support Services Unit at [REDACTED TEXT]

Attachments

Critical Facility Response Information Format: Educational Institutions