North Attleboro Officials Review Procedures — Just In Case

by Amy DeMelia, The Sun Chronicle
Photo: North Attleboro High School. (Chronicle staff file photo by Mark Stockwell)

While town officials certainly hope they will never need to respond to a horrific tragedy such as a school shooting, that doesn't mean they aren't preparing for a worst-case scenario. North Attleboro police, fire, and school departments gathered Tuesday to go over how the town would respond to a catastrophic event — an active shooter at the high school.

The tabletop exercise run by The Winmill Group brought local officials together with officials from the FBI, state police and the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, among others, for a four-hour discussion that ranged from the initial response to communication needs in the days following such an incident.

"We used this incident to go through the processes and procedures we set up as security protocols, working in conjunction with the police and fire departments," Superintendent Suzan Cullen said. "It was interesting to see the bigger and wider mushroom cloud of resources that would be reacting to this incident."

Fire Chief Ted Joubert said one of the key things he took away from the exercise was the need to coordinate communication between responding agencies and with the public. Police Chief John Reilly said the exercise shows that officials are not just showing up to the office and reacting to incidents, but taking a proactive approach to planning for them.

The Winmill Group will prepare a report on the tabletop exercise, which will be used to further refine the town's security procedures and prioritize security enhancements.

"It was an evaluation of where we are. Once the final report is put together, it will give us a plan for how we can move forward together," Town Administrator Mark Fisher said.

The exercise was part for a year-long effort by town officials to ramp up long-standing efforts to enhance security, which was prompted by the December 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Conn. Consultant Ryan Winmill said the commitment shown by North Attleboro officials to addressing security issues is unprecedented in the state, outside of Boston.

The tabletop exercise was the final piece of an almost $170,000 security analysis of the town's 23 buildings recently completed by The Winmill Group. The final report recommended 44 security improvements, and Fisher has included $1.25 million for security enhancements in the town's five-year capital plan.

The town is already working to pursue some of the security enhancements recommended by the analysis. For example, the town recently decided to purchase 15 automatic defibrillators for municipal buildings. Half of the $15,000 cost was paid for through a grant program, while the remainder came from the Walter F. Lyons Trust Fund, which is under the control of selectmen.