Thank you Katie L. for this post and question: I have only just begun to read the findings in the report and have NOT read it in its entirety. I will surmise, from what I've read thus far, that a distinction is being made between the strict letter of the "law", (in this case, protocol and procedure) and the human component.
There can be no doubt that there were many failures. Failures with disastrous consequences.
The finding's by the independent evaluator seems to indicate that despite these failures, the actions of those responding did not violate protocol and procedure.
Being ill equipped, not having updated training, having expired munitions, and not having clear command and control, by the evaluators analysis and review did not violate any of the departments protocols and procedures.
This highlights a serious defect and deficiency in policing. Having outdated equipment by itself is inconsequential. Not getting enough training be it specialized or otherwise, is violative of nothing as it is not mandated or required. Ineffective incident command and leadership is well just that, ineffective. It is not consciously going against department rules and regulations It is human error and personal deficiency.
As is the case with most things in life, nothing is or appears to be a problem...until it is. And when it is or becomes a problem, it is often times to late to recover from as is unfortunately evidenced here.
I say this over and over, you don't know what you don't know. If you are not training regularly and adapting to the ever changing threats of today and all you have in terms of a response is outdated methodologies, practices, gear, equipment and incident command, then you may not be violating any protocols or procedures but you may also not be effective in your ability to stop a threat as was the case here.
Parents of children in the school and those who lost loved ones are outraged because policy and procedure have nothing to do with them and their desire to send their children to school and expect that they will return home safely at the end of each day. They don't care if your training only included responding to an active shooter with the lights on but not with the lights off as is the protocol of schools going into lockdown. Parents don't want to hear about the length of time it took to determine if doors were locked or unlocked and what was the best way to deal with them. Parents don't want to be chastised or tased when they are on scene and prepared to take decisive and definitive action in the face of extreme danger and risk of death. And parents certainly don't want to hear that the conclusion of a 182 page independent investigation and report is that no one did anything to violate policy and procedure. To parents of 19 children and spouses to two teachers, that dishonors the memories of lost children and loved ones.
We will undoubtedly learn from this and hopefully develop better policies and procedures.
