Counterterrorism Techniques Could Prevent School Shootings, Officials Say
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
A group of law enforcement officials, including a former homeland security chief, Tom Ridge, say applying counterterrorism techniques could help prevent school shootings.
A conference called yesterday by the police commissioner, Raymond Kelly, brought together counterterrorism experts and law enforcement officials who have responded to school shootings to compare notes on lessons learned after incidents of both types.
“Just like 9/11, no one connected the dots,” Mr. Ridge said in a presentation about the shootings this year at Virginia Tech.
Communication and coordination were the words of the day as school security officials at some of the city’s dozens of post-secondary schools listened to presentations from NYPD terrorism experts who have studied militant Islamic groups and law enforcement officers who responded to the Columbine shootings and the attack at the Amish elementary school in West Nickel Mines, Pa. The conference came as Mr. Kelly said there has been chatter at terrorist training camps and on extremist Web sites about possible terrorist plots against American schools, although he said there were no specific threats.
