Napa College chief intent on heading off active shooter
NAPA, Calif. (KGO) -- Nobody wants to talk about this," said Napa Valley College Police Chief Ken Arnold.
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But Arnold believes we have to, especially after yet another deadly mass shooting on a school campus, this time in Florida. Arnold's mission is to keep something similar from happening on his campus of 6000 students.
"If you don't tell people what to do when they're confronted with it, then they're paralyzed," explained Arnold.
Last month, we received an exclusive invitation to an FBI active shooter training in the school library. Arnold believes its better to be prepared than to pretend it's not going to happen.
VIDEO: GRAPHIC: Harrowing video shows students cowering as gunshots ring out
Beyond that, he's all about prevention, including developing a specific "threat assessment" tool when a troubled, or potentially dangerous student, comes to his attention.
"We have the intruder locks. We have a process for evaluating students who might come to our attention," said Arnold. "We call it behaviors of concern."
Arnold believes it's not enough to tell students and staff to see something and say something, but that it's incumbent on his department, to then do something.
"We'll monitor them," said Officer Amber Wade, who told us she's handled 15 to 20 threat assessment cases in her nine years at Napa College.
"I've followed them," explained Wade. "I've been around certain classes at a certain time, escorted them to and from classes. Yeah we do have to walk that line."
Anything and everything to make sure a troubled student doesn't become...a violent one.
Click here for full coverage on the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland and click here for a look at comprehensive coverage on school shootings here in the Bay Area and across the country.
