JUNCTION CITY—A bomb threat ruined the first day of school at Spring Valley Elementary School in Junction City on Aug. 11.
Fortunately a bomb was never found and no one was injured. But since there have been social media concerns expressed about the JCPD response to the incident. Tuesday police and school district administrators met for an after action review.
Capt. Cory Odell, noted that an unsubstantiated threat about a bomb came in from the school district at approximately 7:34 a.m. and dispatchers contacted school resource officers who just preparing to come to work. "Due to the way that the information came in it was not a lights-sirens run so it was not a 30-second response like people anticipate just because of morning traffic going all the way from the east side of town to where we're at all the way to the west side of town where the school's located. "
JCPD officers did not arrive on scene until about 8:04 a.m. nearly 30-minutes later. JC Post asked about the 30 minutes it took to respond. "He was just finishing up getting ready to come in to work. He had to get all of his work stuff together and get loaded into his vehicle, " said Odell. Police Chief John Lamb pointed out that at time it was still an unsubstantiated threat. "Nobody had called in. This was based on a group meet message that was put out by the school district telling staff to check your areas. If you see anything out of sorts report to us. It was still perceived by them as a low threat so we weren't going to endanger the community more by trying to get over there by lights and sirens."
Lamb said a 911 call came in shortly after receiving the group meet text and a second SRO, school resource officer, was sent to the school on the west side of Junction City. Lamb said some sheriff's department personnel were also at the school because they happened to be dropping off their children.
Odell said after 8:04 police linked up with school officials and did an immediate walk-through of the building and nothing seemed out of place. School staff had also conducted an earlier walk through and nothing seemed out of place. Lamb commented that eventually four walk-throughs were done by police or school personnel. "A lot of people think the kids were evacuated. The kids were never allowed in the school. School staff had made the decision I am not going to put the kids in school and then run the chance of possibly evacuating them which we understand, so the kids were never allowed in school, they were just taken to a safe distance away and cared for away from the school.
Police said the students were allowed into the school about 10:27 a.m. It was the first day of the new school year.
Some improvements will be made. Lamb said police have assessed their policies and there are some things that have been identified where changes need to be made. "Working with the school board comparing their policy to ours, make sure that policy matches practice and that we're working together and everybody understands everybody's role as we respond. " Lamb said a committee will review it to make sure the policy is compliant with accreditation standards, will identify best practices in the profession, and what works well with not just schools but also other large facilities. While not identifying specific changes now, Lamb did confirm there will be some to make it more clear on response so entities can understand the police role and what to expect.
Lamb also stated, "There are some things that we have identified that we can improve on. Just like I said at the after action report with the school who we're working closely with, there were some ah-ha moments in that. No situation like this is ever going to be perfect. There's no cookie cutter response to any situation in law enforcement. " Lamb also added, "So what you do is remain fluid, calm." He commented that the main goal is to protect the students and the staff, and the chief added that all agencies were combined in that effort.
Lamb noted that he wants to ensure communication between the JCPD and school district is strong, they want to build on it, identify each other's roles so next time it will run a lot smoother. The goal is to strive to do better in the future.