After terror plot against Danish school: An emergency plan is only effective once it has been practised

Our ability to respond is strengthened by talking things through in peacetime.

By Mette Brusch Westergaard, Security Adviser, DBI – Danish Institute of Fire and Security Technology

Are our teachers equipped to deal with a violent incident such as a school shooting? And is the school’s emergency response plan functional, or is it gathering dust in a drawer? Admittedly, these are difficult and uncomfortable questions. They force us to acknowledge that we live in a world where violent attacks occur, and that schools and educational institutions can also become targets.

The case of the Danish Hadsten School, where three teenage boys are charged with allegedly planning to kill children and staff using knives and bombs, reminds us that, unfortunately, these are questions we need to ask.

For the sake of clarity, I do not know whether Hadsten School has practised its emergency response plans or not. Fortunately, the case ended without any victims, thanks to skilled police work and timely intervention. But the case is a powerful reminder that serious incidents at educational institutions are not unthinkable, and that having a plan is not enough – it also needs to be practised.

The Danish Ministry of Children and Education recommends that schools and educational institutions work systematically with security and crisis preparedness. Fortunately, the vast majority of schools have taken on this responsibility, and at DBI we have helped several institutions develop concrete emergency response plans, including action plans and action cards.

But simply having an emergency response plan is not enough: It needs to be realistic and relevant, it needs to be known and implemented, and it needs to be tested and practised. A plan can be as thorough and well-designed as possible, but if it is never taken out of the drawer when a real incident occurs, it provides a false sense of security and represents wasted resources.

Talk things through in peacetime

In my daily work as a security adviser, I often ask institutions whether they practise their plans for school shootings or other violent incidents. The answer is usually that they have either held or are planning to hold a dilemma exercise, with the crisis management team taking part. But I have yet to encounter a school or educational institution that wants to practise with the teaching staff – or, for that matter, with the students.

I regularly see action cards for fire and first aid displayed by exit doors, whereas the action card for a violent incident is kept in the staff room – if it is displayed somewhere visible at all. I understand the thinking behind not having it on public display, but at the same time, this removes the opportunity to have a calm and constructive conversation with students if they do not know that the action card exists.

The content is usually a brief instruction along the lines of: “Plan A: Run. Plan B: Hide.” I am not suggesting that these instructions should be plastered across every classroom, but I do believe they can provide a starting point for valuable conversations with students in middle school and above. Our ability to respond is strengthened by talking things through in peacetime, and visible action cards provide an opportunity to ask follow-up questions and acknowledge and address the uncertainty and anxiety students may feel.

I understand that it can be challenging to prioritise exercises involving violent incidents. They require significant resources in an already busy day-to-day environment, while the likelihood of actually needing what is learned is low. However, we have experienced several near misses and examples of violence and knife attacks on a smaller scale. We need to learn from these incidents so that we are better prepared in the event of a larger attack.

As a minimum, I therefore encourage school leaders across the country to discuss the emergency response plan for violent incidents with their teaching staff and consider what information can and should be shared with students, so that everyone is as well prepared as possible in a safe and calm environment.