The police chief blamed by many for not dispatching officers more quickly to stop the shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, is also the head of the school system’s small police force, a unit normally dedicated to establishing a good relationship with students and acting in case of occasional fights.

Preparing for shooting is only a small part of what school police officers do, but local experts say the preparation of officers assigned to schools in Texas — including mandatory shooting training — gives them as solid a foundation as any other.

“The tactical and conceptual mindset exists in Texas,” said Joe McKenna, deputy superintendent of the Comal school district in Texas and a former deputy director of the state’s center for school safety.

The mother of the Texas shooter spoke: “He was not a monster, but he was aggressive”

A gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School on Tuesday. When the students called 911, officers waited more than an hour to break into the classroom after following the shooter into the building.

District Police Chief Pete Arredondo decided officers should wait before confronting the gunman because they believed he was locked inside adjoining classrooms and the children were no longer at risk, authorities said Friday.

“It was the wrong decision,” admitted Steven McCraw, head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, at a news conference on Friday.

A group of Border Patrol tactical agents would later engage in a gun battle with the attacker and kill him, authorities said. Arredondo could not immediately be reached Friday by The Associated Press for his views.

Across America, police officers who work in schools are tasked with policing who comes and goes, trying to build trust so students feel comfortable coming to them when in trouble, teaching substance abuse programs, and occasionally, making arrests.

The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Department says on its website that its primary goal is to “maintain a safe and secure environment for our future leaders to learn and our current leaders to educate while building partnerships with students, teachers, parents, and the community.” community while enforcing laws and reducing fears.”

Active gunman training was mandated by state lawmakers in 2019 in response to school shootings. Under state law, school districts must also have active shooter response plans in their emergency response procedures.

Security can sometimes become lax because school officials and deputies can dismiss a shooting in their building, acknowledged Lynelle Sparks, a school police officer in Hillsboro, Texas, and executive director of the Association of School Resource Officers. from Texas.

“It’s always about making sure you’re prepared,” he said. “People relax. It happens in all districts. You can’t say no. It happens everywhere. We got to the point of ‘Oh my God. This is horrible. We need safety, safety, safety.’ The school year goes by and then you think ‘Oh, why do I have to lock the door every day?’ I wish all teachers taught behind a closed door. That doesn’t make it a prison system, it’s about saving lives.”

Given the “incident command” approach that was widely adopted after 9/11, it’s not surprising that the school’s police chief is considered the commander, even after officers from other agencies arrive, McKenna said. The designated person would be considered the commander until relieved by a higher-ranking officer, but that doesn’t necessarily happen immediately as life-saving efforts continue, she added.

“This is still an ongoing investigation, but it makes sense that a school district police chief would be the initial incident commander,” McKenna said.