Clear backpacks--safety or security theater?

 

I often hear people--parents, mostly--ask for schools to provide clear backpacks to all of their students. I disagree with this because clear backpacks have not been shown to keep weapons out of schools. More on that in a moment. If parents want their child to have a clear backpack, they are available on Amazon if not in your local stores. No one is stopping you from purchasing a clear backpack. 

Since Uvalde, more schools are requiring clear back packs. Note: The killer did not tote his weapon/s into the school in a clear backpack. People saw the weapon. People heard the weapon. He still gained entry.

In this photo, which I personally took, there are a good number of weapons hidden in the notebook, the lunch bag, and wrapped in the gym clothes--knives, guns, lighters, etc. The water bottle contains vodka. So much for a "clear" backpack, eh? Some students have put black backpacks inside of the clear ones! They know that no one will have the time to look intently over each and every student's backpacks.

The intruder shooter is more rare but you can bet they won't be using a clear backpack... (See: Uvalde.)

Hearing the calls for this purchase or that purchase, I can understand the fear. Columbine, as well as several other rampage shootings, happened when my son was in elementary school. Woods were around one side of the playground, and a subdivision on another side. Teens from the subdivision built treehouses in those woods overlooking the playground--easy for a sniper to hide and shoot at kids, as happened in Jonesboro, Arkansas when 11 and 13-year-old boys shot and killed classmates and teachers. I was worried about my son attending school during that time. But I was also researching school shootings as a researcher for the book Raising a Nonviolent Child, by author John Rosemond. I realized that, while horrible tragedies, they remained relatively rare occurrences. 

I have been researching school shootings for almost 25 years now, and can say that a clear backpack is not likely to stop a school shooter.

In researching school shootings for over two decades, I have studied in detail how the shooter got into the school, time of day, location/s of the shooting, weapons used, how the gun was brought into school, and so on. I notice trends, I notice patterns. I'll list a few of them and list a few of the reasons why I don't think clear backpacks would be a worthy investment for a school to take on. If parents want to speak to their school boards, at least do some research to make informed decisions, rather than knee-jerk emotional decisions. 

One--The backpacks are clear. If a student wanted to shoot up his/her school, they wouldn't put a gun in a clear backpack for all to see. Kid have hidden guns in band instrument cases, lunch boxes, trench coats, waistbands, pockets, strapped to their legs, under blankets, etc. 

"They [students] very typically just hide the weapon inside something in the bookbag. They take a book and hollow it out and put a gun in the book. This is not an anomaly. It’s a repeatedly used method. They buy all of these different containers and put the gun in there, or they put it in a tennis shoe or wrap the gun in their gym shorts. They get a rifle and put it in a musical instrument case."

Clear Backpacks Probably Won’t Prevent School Shootings

"Clear backpacks are security theater. Weapons and other items can still be hidden inside. There are many other proven best practices in school safety that may be less visible, but more meaningful."

National School Safety and Security Services

"A North Carolina school district plans to auction off 46,000 unused clear backpacks as it tries to recover money it spent under a plan for increased security in schools.

The Charlotte Observer reports that the Charlotte-Mecklenburg district spent almost $500,000 on the backpacks for high school students. Critics, however, said little to no research has proven that the backpacks can help stop weapons at the door. The backpacks ultimately were not used after school officials were surprised to find many of them had a warning label about cancer-causing chemicals while unpacking them."

School district to auction off unused clear backpacks

Two--More school shootings are happening in parking lots before or after school. They may have had their weapons in their vehicles, or hidden outdoors, which a number of shooters have done. More shootings are happening at recess or outdoor lunch, or just before or after school on the sidewalk. When it is harder to get guns and knives inside of the schools, shooters will still find a way. A clear backpack won't stop a determined shooter.

Three--These items just give a false sense of security. They are just one more expense that can take away from already strained budgets for security. Feeling safe isn't the same as being safe. Which do you want--to feel safe? Or to be safe?

There are a number of books and resources to learn more about school safety. I highly recommend Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (REMS)

This book by school safety expert Dr. Ken Trump is a very good resource:

School Safety and Violence Prevention is also a very good resource.

In the meantime, the best things you yourself can do to help prevent school shootings is to stay alert to your surroundings--numerous school shooters have carried out plans for months, and over a years' time, before carrying out their plans and no one noticed the small arsenals they were accumulating, or their deteriorating mental health, or their numerous other activities related to the planned shootings. 

If you own firearms, know where they are because you can bet your kids know. Don't think that your child is "too smart to touch them." You're wrong. Store them safely and store the ammo separately and safely.

Teach your kids about leakage. Leakage is when a student talks about a school shooting, talks about past school shootings, seems obsessed with school shootings, and may outright try to recruit others to help them commit a school shooting. Teach them how to report what they have heard safely. They should not announce that they are going to tell, but should report as soon as it is safe for them to do so. Some good ideas in this piece:

School shooters often hint at their plans. How to help kids spot threats

Get involved in your child's school. Attend school board meetings. Read up on school safety. Ask if your school regularly conducts safety audits (many, if not most, do not). If not, ask them why not. Form groups of like-minded parents. But educating yourselves on school safety--what's crap, what's worthwhile--first will go a long way to forging good relationships with school districts, rather than adversarial one.

**Update: Since I first posted this piece earlier today, several parents have told me that these plastic backpacks are cheaply made and soon fall apart under the heavy load of books, so schools no longer require the clear backpacks as a replacement!**

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Content copyright © J Clark 2022. Please seek permission to use material from this blog.

Paying attention can pay off

While most people are waiting for this politician or that politician to “do something,” and while many people wait for the Second Amendment to be changed (good luck with that; it ain't as quick and easy as one thinks), there are things we can do to do our part in attempting to prevent as many school shootings as possible.

As we go about our daily lives, many have their faces stuck in their phones, tuning out the world around them. And right under our distracted noses, there may be someone planning to commit a crime, right in plain sight. But we don’t pay attention to our surroundings, we don’t practice situational awareness.

There’s another kind of distraction as well. Arguing over arming teachers, or not arming teachers. More guns in schools, or fewer. More police/SROs in schools, or fewer. Metal detectors, or no metal detectors. Make schools warm and welcoming, or turn them into prison-like fortresses. And while we’re distracted with arguing, or shouting at politicians on social media, what are kids doing? Even if they aren’t planning a school shooting, do you know what your kids are doing? Do you know how your kids are doing?

And while we don’t pay attention to what our kids are doing—whether we’re tied up in our jobs, personal lives, or other distractions, some kids are carrying out plans and amassing small arsenals right under our noses.

We can’t totally blame our devices for distracting us. Everyday tasks and concerns can consume us as well. In thinking of the Westside Middle School shooting in Jonesboro, Arkansas in 1998, cell phones and other devices were not as prevalent then, but we were similarly distracted from what was going on around us. Two boys, 13 and 11-years-old, stole a small arsenal of weapons from a relative without being detected. The night before their planned shooting, the boys packed the 13-year-old's mother’s van with 9 weapons, 2,000 rounds of ammunition, food, and camping supplies. Their activities went unnoticed by any adult.

The next morning, missing the bus on purpose, the 13-year-old took his mother’s vehicle keys while she was distracted with taking care of a younger child, and drove off with her van. While driving to pick up his 11-year-old accomplice, he nearly ran into a stop sign. No one called police that a young boy was driving a Dodge Caravan, which he nearly wrecked.

After picking up his accomplice, the 13-year-old recognized that they needed gas. Driving up to a gas station, neither boy knew how to pump gas. After asking for help several times, they left to go to another gas station. No one called police that two young boys, dressed in camo on a school day morning, we driving around without an adult. At the second gas station, again, no one would help the boys pump gas into the van, and so they left for a third gas station.

At the third gas station that the boys went to, someone did help them to pump gas and then they were on their way—but still no one called in to police, or even asked the boys what they were up to and where their parents were.

After parking the van near some woods, one boy got the weapons ready for the sniper-style attack which they would soon carry out, killing four of their classmates and a teacher. Ten others were wounded. They walked some distance, dressed in camo with 9 weapons between them, on a school morning, and no one reported them. No one asked "hey, what are you kids up to?" No one who saw the boys that day reported their activities to police or the school. Right under our noses…

Similarly, the Columbine shooters carried out a good deal of preparation without anyone noticing. They amassed a good number of weapons, ammo, and bomb-making supplies.  An article in the Denver Post revealed that their arsenal included “95 explosive devices—enough firepower to wipe out their school and potentially hundreds of students.”  No one noticed a thing. 

The shooters, on the morning of the shooting, stopped by a convenience store to purchase propane. No one asked these two boys why they needed to purchase propane on a school morning. No one thought it suspicious enough to call it in, or question the boys.

The two shooters placed several propane bombs in a park. These were to be decoys to get police presence at the park and to delay a police presence at the school, but the bombs got little attention. All of this planning never caught the eye or ear of any adult—including the younger shooter’s probation officer. The judge who oversaw the boys' mandated diversion program praised them for their good behavior and allowed them out of the program early.

All of this planning took place over some 13 months, without anyone noticing. Right under our noses…

Studying how a shooter or shooters were able to pull off their plans gives us lessons in what to do better. Each shooting gives us many lessons, but, sadly, these lessons have not been learned since Columbine, and school rampages still happen. I often think of former FBI Agent Mary Ellen O'Toole's words from a few years ago: “On the news, people are saying we should be concerned about this and that, and I thought, ‘We identified that 20 years ago. Did you not read this stuff 20 years ago?’ … It’s fatiguing. I just feel a sense of fatigue.”

Pay attention. If something seems off, report it to authorities. It isn't our job to decide if it is a credible concern; that's the job of law enforcement. If you are driving by a school and see something suspicious, call 911. I also keep the phone numbers of the local schools in my phone, as well as that of the school superintendent if I happen to see something amiss. If you hear someone making threats or talking about school violence, call law enforcement. Paying attention can pay off. 

My letter to the editor:  We should all do our part

My follow up letter to the editor:  Pay Attention

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Content copyright © J Clark 2022. Please seek permission to use material from this blog.

Depressing School Shooting articles

I'm often asked on my Facebook page "Why do you post all of these depressing school shooting articles?" Because there are lessons in each article, each shooting, that people can learn from. I note how a shooter got inside (intruder shooters are rare, most are students), time of day (before school, class changes, and lunch are times shootings most often occur), and so on. 

I've kept certain stats and noticed trends over 23 years of studying school shootings. I have not seen an official count yet but the stats I've compiled of guns found in schools across the US, more guns were found in elementary schools than high schools--the result of irresponsible gun owners not securing their weapons, their children finding them and taking them to school. With rights come responsibilities. 

And so it is with this piece--lessons to be learned. And acted upon, or the lessons were not truly learned, as we see over and over again-- With shooter inside Uvalde classrooms, officials say secure doors kept police out

How many lessons can you get from this article? How many of you will share this article with your school's superintendent, principal, teachers? How many will share it with their fellow parents? How many will think "Wow, I wonder what the schools our children attend would do about a situation like this?" 

Post the article on your social media. Engage others, ask questions, talk about what's going on! Learn the lessons that the (not too distant) past can teach us!

Update: Posted this past Father's Day weekend by Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter was killed in the 2018 Parkland school shooting. He's right--no one listens until it's 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 child...

"Today, I would like to tell you a bit more about me. Why I do what I do and how I am doing. 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐞 𝐠𝐮𝐧 𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐦𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝."

Most importantly, I study past school shootings because wannabee school shooters study them in order to learn from the mistakes of previous shooters, in order to increase their "score" (number of deaths). I study school shootings to learn the mistakes made by parents, school officials, and law enforcement. I then share that information. Do you learn from and share that information? Why not?

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Content copyright © J Clark 2022, updated 2023. Please seek permission to use material from this blog.