By Mike Hazlip—
Following a request from the Citrus Heights City Council in the wake of the deadly Uvalde, Texas school shooting in May, Police Chief Alex Turcotte said in an update last week that his department is working with the school district to review and update plans for responding to active shooter situations.
Turcotte said police efforts to work with San Juan Unified School District’s Safe Schools program are ongoing, and he assured the council that police are well-prepared to handle active shooter incidents, if one was to occur in Citrus Heights. A new set of plans and updated contact information are now in supervisor patrol vehicles as well as the police command center, he said.
Citrus Heights police have plans in place for both shelter-in-place and lockdown incidents, Turcotte said, noting there is a difference between the two from a law enforcement perspective. A lockdown involves a threat to students and teachers, while a shelter-in-place order might be triggered by an incident near a school such as a suspect pursuit.
Without going into specific details about police tactics in responding to school incidents, Turcotte said the department has handled two lockdowns, and he is pleased with officers’ response in both of those.
The Uvalde police have been widely criticized in multiple news reports for their response to the May 24 shooting that left 19 students and two teachers dead along with 17 wounded. However, Turcotte said police throughout California are on the leading edge of response tactics to school incidents, with police in the Sacramento region, particularly well trained.
“I will tell you California law enforcement has been at the forefront of innovation and best practices to be able to mitigate the impact of an active homicide incident here in our region,” Turcotte said. “Working with our regional partners, I also believe that we’re one of the most highly trained regions in that response.”
With a number of new officers joining the force in recent months, Turcotte said he plans to work with the district’s Safe Schools program to hold a full-scale exercise with actors later this fiscal year, but has confidence that the plans and procedures currently in place are adequate to address a number of various incidents at schools.
Councilman Steve Miller asked Turcotte to clarify that plans in place for schools would also apply to other public areas such as shopping centers. Turcotte affirmed the response procedures would apply to any venue with a threat to the lives of multiple people.
Vice Mayor Tim Schaefer said the Uvalde shooting is a reminder to remain vigilant.
“Uvalde is a very small town a long ways from any real serious metropolitan center, so it just really does just emphasize the fact that this really could happen anywhere,” Schaefer said. He also expressed a desire to identify individuals who might be a threat to public safety, asking rhetorically what police can do to identify those individuals.
Mayor Porsche Middleton cautioned against divulging information that could help criminals in a public meeting, saying she has “absolute faith” that police are prepared for a school incident.
Turcotte said law enforcement will work with schools on a holistic approach that addresses some of the behavioral warning signs seen in past incidents.
Councilman Bret Daniels raised concerns over what he called “waiting for the school district to fix those problems.”
Daniels asked about the use of federal funds to provide more security for local schools, favoring an approach that would include an officer at each school. Turcotte said more information on the use of federal dollars would be available with a more comprehensive report in a future presentation.
