Across the country, states require more training to prepare students and teachers for mass shootings than for those expected to protect them. The differences were clear in Uvalde, where children and officers waited on opposite sides of the door.
That little town’s school board has its own police force, led at the time of the shooting by Chief “I got no radio” Arredondo (who has since resigned). Note that this is police just for the schools, not for the whole town. They were very well funded in every respect for the size of their duties, and already pretty much paramilitary in terms of equipment the day they went in and did nothing but listen to the screams of the kids.
If there really was a lack of training – and I wouldn’t bet on it myself – then it’s on nobody but themselves, because they had the money and a whole lot of shiny new equipment.
At the time of the shooting there were a number of contemporary news articles that discussed the outsize police budget Uvalde already had in place, something like 40% of the entire town budget. They should be pretty easy to find if you’re interested. No excuse for no training – if in fact there was a lack thereof, and I kinda don’t believe that myself.
That little town’s school board has its own police force, led at the time of the shooting by Chief “I got no radio” Arredondo (who has since resigned). Note that this is police just for the schools, not for the whole town. They were very well funded in every respect for the size of their duties, and already pretty much paramilitary in terms of equipment the day they went in and did nothing but listen to the screams of the kids.
If there really was a lack of training – and I wouldn’t bet on it myself – then it’s on nobody but themselves, because they had the money and a whole lot of shiny new equipment.
At the time of the shooting there were a number of contemporary news articles that discussed the outsize police budget Uvalde already had in place, something like 40% of the entire town budget. They should be pretty easy to find if you’re interested. No excuse for no training – if in fact there was a lack thereof, and I kinda don’t believe that myself.