Worth County E911 Director Kannetha Clem attended a conference in Athens held by the National Emergency Number Association (NENA), and APCO (a global communications consultancy). During the three-day GECC (Georgia Emergency Communications Conference), Newtown, Connecticut E911 Director Maurine Will spoke publicly for the first time since that tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14.
Though the presentation in Athens could not be recorded in any way, Clem assembled some notes comparing Newtown’s 911 to our headquarters in Sylvester. Reviewing the similarities between that small Connecticut town and Worth County, one cannot help but ask if an active shooter protocol should be implemented for Worth’s emergency response personnel.
For example, Newtown’s 911 center serves approximately 26,000 residents, while Worth County 911 serves around 22,000. However, the Connecticut town’s dispatchers handle approximately 8,000 calls annually while Worth 911 received 45,053 calls in 2012 alone. Newtown has a total of three consoles and 10 employees, while Worth County has four consoles and a total of 18 employees. Still, the greatest contrast between the two small centers may be the fact that Newtown maintains an active shooter policy and holds one training exercise per month while Worth County currently has no protocol to handle such a terrible event.
According to Clem, the Connecticut 911 director explained that her office only received four calls concerning the school shooting on December 14. At approximately 9:35 a.m., 911 received a call stating the principal had already been killed. At 9:37, a janitor reported that there may be multiple shooters, and at 9:39, a teacher, who was later killed, called to inform 911 that she was hiding her students in a closet. The Newtown director would not discuss the fourth call.
Newtown has five (all volunteer) fire departments, as well as three fully staffed ambulances (though one was out of service). The community has a total of 26 law enforcement officers. Within four hours of the incident, media had swarmed the area and blocked streets preventing rescue crews from entering or leaving the area. Only two victims were actually transported to the hospital.
Maurine Will went on to emphasize the importance of implementing a “mass casualty plan,” and stated that her 911 center had just set up such a plan two days before the shooting took place. Yet because of the plan, the director was able to dispatch 50 ambulances and set up a triage unit with a single phone call.
A Connecticut State Patrol officer was forced to circle in a helicopter above the scene in order to secure airspace because of all the media helicopters flying around.
Meanwhile, parents were asked to email or text a picture of their child so the images could be used to identify the victims. And, a separate bomb threat was called in to the church where parents were mourning. And after hearing all of this, Clem believes her fellow 911 director’s purpose was to emphasize the importance of setting up an efficient Mass Casualty Plan.
Clem also offered several suggestions for improving Worth County’s response if a similar incident occurs here. These suggestions include: setting up a designated area for media, as well as a pre-designated staging area for responding units, and pre-designated reunification points.
The plan also calls for 911 to print and laminate diagrams of local schools and other buildings. And finally, Clem called for Worth County to develop an active shooter plan and practice it, in case such an event were to unfold in Worth County.