Thomas Shea entered academia after retiring from the Long Branch, NJ Police Department in 2017 following twenty years of service. During his police career, he received numerous commendations, commanded four operational units, served on the county SWAT team and served as an adjunct professor for two separate universities. He is the author of numerous police trade magazine articles and recently signed a book publishing contract for his manuscript, titled, “Police Leadership Transformational Checklist (working title).” He spoken at both criminal justice and schools security conferences nationwide. He also serves as the Director of Security for the South-Orange-Maplewood School District and co-owns four businesses. His currents research interests include police-community relations, police ethics, police leadership, and K-12 school security. He received his B.S. from Rutgers University, his MPA from Seton Hall and his D.Sc. from New Jersey City University. Lastly, Dr. Shea is a United States Marine Corps veteran of Operation Desert Shield/Storm.
SESSIONS
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The Critical Paradigm Shift to an Options Based Emergency Response Protocol
As the Director of Security for a school district, the presenter implemented an operational change from the traditional lockdown approach to an options-based protocol created by the FBI and endorsed by multiple federal agencies. Despite expert advocacy, there were community challenges. Discussion includes the astuteness of social, cultural, and political obstacles to implementation.Learning Objectives and Participant Outcomes
The objective is provide attendees with further understanding of the nuanced intricacies to achieve stakeholder acceptance of security norm changes.Learning Objectives
- Increased comprehension of what the Options Based Response Protocol is.
- Learning how the Options Based Protocol works in practical and understandable terms.
- Awareness of possible implementation obstacles due to a lack of stakeholder communication and fear regarding active shooter events.
- Recognition of the need to convey the importance of this paradigm and how to dispel misconceptions.
- Identifying stakeholder concerns regarding the psychological effects that active shooter drills have on children.
Participant Outcomes
- Attendees will further understand of the importance of an Options Based Response Protocol to increase resiliency during critical events.
- Attendees will better identify situational awareness factors during emergencies to increase casualty mitigation.
- Attendees will gain further knowledge regarding the gaining of necessary support from stakeholders to increase school security preparedness.
- Attendees will grasp the importance of the inclusion of social and psychological training for students and staff during lockdown drills.
- Attendees will comprehend effective techniques to communicate with parents, students and and staff to increase buy-in.