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!**

Please consider using the share buttons to share this content!

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