With no precise policy for responding to gun threats, Albuquerque Public Schools leaves it to each school's staff to react as it sees fit. This week, that policy vacuum triggered two very different reactions.
At La Cueva High School, the response to what turned out to be a cardboard handgun was a lumbering Goliath: a full-scale school evacuation, road closures, a bomb squad, a hostage negotiating team, armored tactical units and a helicopter. At Rio Grande High, the response to reports of a real gun was a lean David: immediate action by two unarmed security aides and no disruption of classes.
In the far Northeast Heights, hundreds of students stood outside for hours in what one retired military man called “the stupidest thing I've ever seen.” In the South Valley, some students didn't even know a student handed over a gun and was arrested.
Which was the right response? With no clear guidelines to measure David versus Goliath, it's impossible to say. APS simply instructs principals to call the APS police, follow police instructions and make the best judgment calls possible in the moment.
Both of Monday's incidents ended well. The brave security aides at Rio Grande were lucky: the 9mm was unloaded, and the boy in the bathroom was not a Columbine copycat. The shock and awe at La Cueva only looked silly because the “gun” was cardboard. If the fake gun had turned out to be a decoy in a larger strategy — as police suspected — and real weapons had surfaced, no parents would have called the huge response stupid.
The real question: What happens next time? Should APS continue to leave security in the hands of aides, while a school's armed APS police officer and sheriff's deputy attend training? Can we afford to send helicopters and armored units to every gun sighting?
Between those extremes there must be a reasonable policy — including this: school personnel should seize the first opportunity to get the gun. Calling in armed officers is essential, but fast action may avert a daylong standoff and save students' lives.
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