On December 15th, 3 students were shot during a shooting outside of a Portland High School. The incident spurred the school to initiate lockdown procedures.
On that same day last year, a manhunt in Arizona forced three schools into lockdown.
In April of this year, another Portland school was put on lockdown due to a cougar sighting at a local park.
There have been many more incidents where police chose to lockdown schools because there was a violent suspect loose in the area.
School lockdown procedures might also be initiated when there are shots reported in the area, or a police chase taking place on local roads.
While none of these threats actually entered the local schools, authorities saw the situations as dangerous enough to require a school lockdown.
While the most publicized events are school shooters, these past incidents show that schools can be locked down for many reasons besides an active shooter; severe weather, violence outside the school, wild animals, and intruders. The point of the lockdown is to prevent an outside threat entering the school and no matter the reason, the main objective is to protect the students, and those inside the school, from any threat.
With so many violent incidents taking place on a daily basis around the country, it’s no wonder school employees and students are trained in school lockdown procedures. Because, even though a school shooter is the worst situation imaginable, the reasons a school could go into lockdown are numerous and it is wise for employees and students to be versed in, and practice, classroom safety.
In dangerous situations, many lockdown procedures urge teachers or those in charge to barricade the door with whatever is handy; desks, chairs, tables, etc. But, with so many incidents that could possibly spur a lockdown, it seems unrealistic to ask school residents to completely rearrange a classroom just to stay safe. It takes precious time, makes a lot of noise, and may not be enough to keep a shooter or other threat out of the room.
Nightlock’s Classroom Door Barricade is a lockdown device for extreme emergencies meant to protect no matter the threat. The Nightlock Lockdown uses the strength of the floor and can withstand tremendous force. It’s easy to use and requires minimal steps to completely secure a classroom against outside threats.
Even when the threat isn’t just outside the door, a secure door can offer peace of mind. Being able to quickly lock and secure a classroom, and knowing precious time isn’t being wasted barricading a door, can make the students, teachers, officials and parents feel more secure.