"Our focus in 2013 is to visit every school – public, private and charter schools – and churches. We want to sit with school administrators and let them know what we see that can help them."
Greer Police Chief Dan Reynolds
By the following Monday morning Reynolds assembled his staff to assess the Greer Police Department’s plan to react to any incident that would threaten the safety of children and teachers.
This week will begins a continuing education program with all schools and churches.
“Every incident is 911 all over again. Every act like this is domestic terrorism,” Reynolds said as his voice got more commanding as he sat up straight behind his desk. “We hear Newtown every day and every hour. Now we’re dealing with people’s perception and responding to feeling and fear.”
Reynolds pointed to the recent incidents in the upstate last week:
• A 17-year-old male student at Byrnes High School, last Monday, was reportedly overheard saying he would kill his ex-girlfriend, students and faculty at Byrnes Freshman Academy. The student’s threat detailed his plan to kill students with a .38-caliber handgun and two shotguns.
• On Tuesday, a 14-year-old D.R. Hill Middle school student stood up in class and said if he had a gun, he would kill everyone.
• Two students at Wade Hampton High School were arrested last Tuesday and charged with carrying a weapon on school property. A black airsoft pistol was found in a student’s book bag in the gym locker room, and a pocketknife in the possession of another student.
• A second student had a pistol and pocketknife concealed on his person.
Spartanburg County District 6 committed to have an off-duty Sheriff’s Office deputy to monitor each of the district’s 10 elementary schools and the Child Development Center throughout the school day. District 3 is working with the Sheriff’s Office to have trained officers in place at every school district school during daily arrival and dismissal times.
Greenville County schools will use off-duty law enforcement officers to patrol all county elementary schools and center. That begins Tuesday. The off-duty officers will patrol schools in defined geographic areas several times each day, checking both inside and outside school buildings, monitoring school entrances, assess security procedures and provide a visible law enforcement presence each school day. Daily patrol schedules will vary.
“Our focus in 2013 is to visit every school – public, private and charter schools – and churches. We want to sit with school administrators and let them know what we see that can help them,” Reynolds said. “We will discuss safety and ask if they want us to tackle faculty and parents. We don’t want anybody to have this happen to them.”
Reynolds and Sgt. Chad Richardson, Community Outreach, begin their strategy this week visiting an elementary school. “When some schools were built, they were not built with security in mind. We will be asking about their physical layout.”
The smaller private and charter schools and churches are getting the same attention. “They don’t have the same facilities like public schools. Maybe some of their exits are not locked at certain times. How will they secure children?
“Everybody has a plan. They have had drills in the past and more of what we will be doing is a debriefing. Even before (Newtown) the (Greenville) school board was having a discussion on security,” Reynolds said.
“The reality is we can’t protect our children all the time,” Reynolds said. “There are a lot of what ifs. What will we do when they participate in recreation activities? This is a good time to talk about it before something happens.”
• Contact the Greer Police Department at 102 South Main Street or call 848-2151.