For more than 30 years I have been involved in security and law enforcement. I have helped to protect presidents, heads of state, and other senior dignitaries. But my real passion is seeing that America’s 55 million school children and the teachers who educate them are kept safe. You can’t teach, nor can you learn, in an environment where basic safety is in doubt.
My goal with this blog is to share that passion and provide you with some real-world solutions for the security problems facing schools today–be they located in an urban, suburban, or rural area. I understand that budgets are tight, so I’ll try to point out ways to do more with less.
For more than 22 years, I was with the U.S. Army Military Police Corps. My assignments included the Pentagon, SHAPE/NATO Headquarters in Belgium, Germany, and Korea. Prior to my retirement my last assignment was at West Point Military Academy, where one of my duties was directing day-to-day security operations, serving a military and civilian population of 30,000.
Upon my retirement from the Army, I served for six years as the executive director of school security for the Washington, D.C. Public School System, which included 163 urban schools. There, I oversaw the development and implementation of a proactive, comprehensive safety and security program that reduced incidences up 90 percent where security technology was employed.
Now I serve as public safety director for ADT Security Services, where I help oversee security for more than 15,000 K-12 and 1,300 college and university campuses. My job allows me to see the latest security solutions technology has to offer. I also get to talk on a regular basis with superintendents, principals, administrators, teachers, parents, and students to hear their concerns about campus security.
I have been interviewed by more than 100 television and radio stations and have contributed columns and comments to more than 60 newspapers and magazines.
That’s my background. I will use all of my experience to bring you regular updates on campus security that I hope you will find useful. I am proud of my accomplishments, but I don’t for a minute claim to have all the answers. So please share your ideas with me and other readers. Let’s make this a place where we can make a difference. We owe it to our children.
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