While out on my daily walk this morning, thoughts about Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School came into my mind. Most of us would have heard, read or saw the news about the latest mass shooting in the USA (on 14 Feb 2018 - Valentine Day). Over here in Singapore / Johor, most people view it with detachment as USA is a far away land. Maybe, the mass shootings bothered me a bit more because I have family over there.
President Trump proposed arming school teachers as a solution to mass shootings in schools. A trained armed person such as a school teacher or sports coach would deal with the shooter effectively he said.
It emerged that there were four armed Deputies (police officers) on scene at the school while the shooting was going on inside the building. The four Deputies did not enter the building to deal with the shooter during the shooting.
As I was brisk walking this morning, I wondered what might have helped the Deputies deal with the situation. Seeing a dog at the park got me thinking, why not use guard dogs in schools?
These are just some thoughts that got into my mind. I am just wondering aloud here as I am no expert:
What if there were guard dogs at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, on that fateful day?
Public Domain Photo
What would the outcome be, if three guard dogs attacked the lone shooter? Given their speed, strength and fearlessness, I imagine that the shooter would be taken down or at least seriously distracted. I also imagine that more guard dogs would increase the chances of taking the shooter down or distracting him.
What if school guard dogs are trained to locate shooters by smell of gunpowder, for example. Would they locate the shooter(s) more quickly?
What if school guard dogs are mounted with GPS and live video streaming devices? Would the real time situation information from the guard dogs dealing with the shooter be useful for security people?
Would the armed Deputies be more effective, if they are supported by guard dogs that lead the charge and pin down the shooter(s) first? Would sending in the guard dogs first buy some time for the main body of armed responders to arrive? More time for the students to escape?
I also thought that the idea of guard dogs must have been brought up before. A quick Google search showed that indeed, it had been but I have no idea what became of them.
Some schools in New York state have started using guard dogs as early as 1971 to deal with vandals and burglars 👈 click
In 2013, a nonprofit, K9s4KIDs based in Texas, launched a programme to provide schools with guard dogs for free 👈 click.
In 2014, Cincinnati’s Oak Hills High School started to deploy guard dogs as their response to the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting where 26 elementary school children and teachers were killed 👈 click.
Maybe, it is time to relook at the guard dogs idea? Needless to say, there are issues to address regarding guard dogs, but they may have a helpful role to play in dealing with the next school shooting situation.
More on the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting incident 👈 click.
My deepest condolences to the victims and their families.
Date: 24 Feb 2018
Guard dogs are used for crowd control,chasing and attacking individuals. It will be difficult to direct the dog to attack the shooter when you have a chaotic situation with many people. I think the dog will be confused. The most effective way is to vote out the politicians who are supported by the NRA. Amend stricter gun laws and control. Other countries rarely have his problem due to their gun laws.
ReplyDeleteYes I am wondering why guard dogs are not widely adopted as it is one of the first possible approaches that come to mind. If someone who reads this and knows more about guard dogs, please share your views to help us understand it better. Would appreciate it. Thank you.
DeleteGuard dogs are used by the police in Florida. They are called K-9 units. They are mostly used to track down and neutralize suspects on the run. K-9 units are not effective in chaotic shooting situation.
ReplyDelete