A Study in Police Preparedness to Respond to Active Shooter Situations to Provide a Safer Learning Environment in the Schools of Bergen County, New Jersey
The research in this study was conducted to explore the influence that the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office Directive 05-01 had on the training and future preparations of all sworn police officers in Bergen County, New Jersey in response to active-shooter situations in the schools of their jurisdictions. Because attendance in schools is mandatory for children to the age of 16 in New Jersey it becomes imperative that the police departments of the state, and more specifically for the purpose of this study the police officers in Bergen County, are able to provide a safe learning environment while children are in attendance. The survey used in the study was sent to all municipal police departments in Bergen County, New Jersey (N = 68). Voluntary participation was requested from the administrators of each police department. This study can be described as cross-sectional descriptive non-experimental research. There were three research questions which guided the study. The researcher used descriptive statistical methods to address guiding questions one and two. To answer guiding question three the researcher used Chi-Squared ( ~ 2s)ta tistical analyses. The analyses were conducted to determine what relationship the independent or predictor variables (total budget, total dollar amount of seized funds, number of sworn law enforcement officers, and total calls for service each from the calendar year 2007) had on each of the two dependant variables (the number of police officers designated to train others in active-shooter response and the frequency of training being conducted). Those analyses indicted two statistically significant relationships. The first was between the amount of forfeiture funds reported by municipal police departments and the number of police officers trained to train other police officers in active-shooter response tactics. The second statistically significant relationship found was between the total operating budget of municipal police departments in Bergen County, NJ and the amount of training being done in active-shooter response tactics. The study has contributed to decision making in the area of police training in active-shooter tactics and training.
Education, Social sciences, School shootings, School violence, Police training, New Jersey, Preparedness, Educational Administration and Supervision
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