This proposal outlines a strategic shift in federal law enforcement priorities, aiming to dissolve the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and reallocate its resources to establish a new federal agency dedicated to enhancing school safety across the United States. The new agency, tentatively named the Federal School Safety Bureau (FSSB), would employ veterans to serve in schools, focusing on both preventive measures and response to active threats, thereby directly addressing one of the nation’s most pressing safety concerns.
Introduction:
Recent discussions and criticisms regarding the ATF’s effectiveness, especially in light of perceived overreach in regulatory practices and resource allocation, have prompted a review of its role within federal law enforcement (Source: House Oversight Committee hearings). This proposal seeks to redirect these resources toward a more pressing issue: the safety of our educational institutions.
Rationale for Defunding ATF:
Mission Overlap: The ATF’s responsibilities could be absorbed by other agencies like the FBI, which already handle similar law enforcement tasks, potentially reducing redundancy and enhancing efficiency (Source: Center for American Progress).
Public Safety Focus: The ATF’s focus has been criticized for targeting lawful gun owners rather than violent criminals, suggesting a misalignment with public safety priorities (Source: Joint hearing on ATF’s regulatory practices).
Cost Efficiency: By dissolving the ATF and folding its essential functions into existing agencies, there’s an opportunity to optimize the use of federal resources.
Proposal for the Federal School Safety Bureau (FSSB):
Mission and Objectives:
Primary Mission: To ensure the safety of students and staff in educational settings by preventing acts of violence, responding to active threats, and providing a visible deterrent to potential assailants.
Objectives:
Employ veterans as School Safety Officers (SSOs) due to their training, discipline, and understanding of high-stress environments.
Implement both overt presence and covert operations within schools to preemptively address threats.
Develop response protocols for active shooter situations that emphasize speed, preparedness, and coordination with local law enforcement.
Structure and Operations:
Recruitment: Veterans, particularly those with experience in law enforcement or security roles, would be prioritized for recruitment into the FSSB. Their skills in crisis management and community relations are invaluable.
Training:
Extensive training in school environments, active shooter response, conflict de-escalation, mental health awareness, and child psychology.
Ongoing professional development focusing on the latest in safety technology and tactics.
Deployment:
Covert SSOs would integrate into school communities, perhaps working in administrative or teaching roles while being prepared to respond to incidents.
Overt SSOs would be visible security personnel, akin to school resource officers but with a specialized federal mandate.
Collaboration:
Work closely with local law enforcement, school administrators, and community leaders to create comprehensive safety plans.
Liaise with federal agencies like the FBI for broader threat assessment and information sharing.
Funding and Resource Allocation:
Budget Reallocation: Funds currently allocated to the ATF would be redirected to establish and operate the FSSB.
Additional Funding: Potential new federal grants or re-prioritization of existing educational safety grants to support the FSSB’s operations.
Benefits:
Direct Impact on Public Safety: By focusing on school safety, the initiative would have a tangible effect where it matters most to families and communities.
Veteran Employment: Offers veterans meaningful employment, leveraging their service experience for public good.
National Standardization: Ensures a consistent level of safety across all schools, regardless of local resources.
Implementation Timeline:
Phase 1 – Planning and Legislation: Draft and pass legislation to dissolve the ATF and establish the FSSB (0-6 months).
Phase 2 – Recruitment and Training: Begin recruitment of veterans and initiate specialized training programs (6-18 months).
Phase 3 – Deployment: Implement SSOs in schools across the nation in stages, starting with areas identified as high-risk (18 months onwards).
Conclusion:
The creation of the Federal School Safety Bureau represents a strategic realignment of federal resources to address a critical national issue. By leveraging the skills of our veterans and focusing federal law enforcement efforts on school safety, we can make a significant impact on the security and peace of mind of students, teachers, and parents across the country. This proposal not only aims to enhance school safety but also reimagines how law enforcement resources can serve community needs more effectively.
Hey, love the ideas. I pitched a similar idea for a task force on Active Attack incidents. What’s your position on the duties of the Veteran, would they have the same responsibilities as a School Resource Officer (truancies, runaways, drugs, etc.) or would they fall under the command of the SRO and just preform safety checks? If you have time take a look at mine and tell me what you think.
I would delegate drugs and runaways and others to local law enforcement.
I would like for the FSSB to be an active deterrent for immediate violent threats.
Not to say they couldn’t assist local law enforcement with other tasks, so long as the core of their performance and duties is centered and always prioritized as a QRF/SRT role.
I go a bit more in depth on how I would structure it here:
I tried to reach out to figures like LTC Dave Grossman and scheduled sit down meetings with my local representative here in Colorado but it seems like for this pilot program to be taken serious, it may need to be deployed and tested in private institutions first.
Which is absolutely ridiculous because I’ve worked in Physical Security in Top Secret DoD/Nuclear sites and the logistics and procedures and their success is extremely evident.
From my conversations with my representative, sadly it seems that the hold up with these programs is entirely political. Even though my proposal offers covert/overt options. (A democrat state or city can choose to go covert with their agents if they desire) But according to him, there’s no “putting guns in schools” as a solution. Which is extremely infuriating.
It felt silly to schedule the meeting once I saw his Army/Marine Corps awards on the wall.
“I feel like you already know this sir.”
“We are a micro minority here brother. They don’t want guns in schools. We can’t do anything.”
So I’m hoping that this could be pitched to a conservative state and implemented and then presented to the current administration and forced down to all states in a “TSA” way?
I think you’re correct, it’s going to take someone not afraid of political backlash, like a President that can’t run again lol. In my pitch I float the Idea of a federal task force to get all states on the same page with basic tactical proficiency, training requirements, and communication overlap. However, I proposed the task force be a temporary project, to avoid anyone pushing the problem down the road in order to keep their job and paycheck coming in.
I always use the TSA example because whether we like it or not. TSA has 100% effectiveness and success in their initial mission which is to deter anything close to 9/11 to happen again.
Do they suck at their job and make things harder for us? Sure. Do they miss things at a significant rate? All the time.
But no hijackings have occurred because they act as a deterrent. And that’s what most people don’t get.
Sure, I’d like all FSSB agents to be HRT operators essentially. But even a standardized infantry level force could accomplish the mission through deterrence and THEN action.
And that’s the biggest thing for me. Standardization.
Which is why I’d love for FSSB auditors to show up and conduct timed response drills and really get to see the level of readiness and command and control of their campuses and grade them accordingly.
I also think it’s crucial that it is a Federal entity operating with Federal Jurisdiction because that way we can avoid issues like Uvalde.
That’s why I made the distinction that FSSB agents hold entire jurisdiction of response and operations even after local law enforcement shows up for back up. That’s crucial to avoid any lack of violence of action or hinderance in response times when agencies want to engage in pissing contests while children are being murdered.
Uvalde was the tipping point for me. 90 minutes holding down a hallway without any forward movement towards the shooter was insanity.
Absolutely agree on Uvalde. It was a complete cluster, the inexperience and lack of training showed through, also the failure to act showed that they were hiring the wrong people for the job.
I think a nationwide standars of training is essential, but we have to give states the abilty to develop on top of the nationwide standard so they can address local obstacles we might not understand.
I think your absolutely on the right path, and we both know this is the time to act.
If you ever need references or want to see current training material, let me know, Im an instructor in several different active attack response courses for both LEO and civilian.
That’s why being a Federal endeavor is so important. I want these agents to be sworn in knowing that their sole purpose is direct action, casualty reduction and threat management.
I’d like to find a school that would be willing to make a visual (video) promotion material that could show how this process could work.
Outside of National Security I do multimedia in the firearms industry so I’m versed in visual storytelling and cinema. So if I was able to find a school and role players who’d be willing to act as FSSB agents to show how a day to day would look like for an officer and show first hand what a local small unit tactics team could do as far as response times, I feel like that would open a lot of eyes.
Picture a video that shows a patrol officer having to travel from point A to the school and in real time show the amount of damage that causes versus a real life deployment of a FSSB agent inside a BDOC in the school ground with a threat neutralized in less than a minute.
I feel like that would be extremely eye opening.
Right now I’m still working in National Security but more and more I’m considering stepping away and getting involved in local politics to try and maneuver something along these lines.
So if you know any school that would be willing to let me use their facilities for a weekend and some role players to put the video proposal together that’d be amazing!
Using a VRA system to allow them to easily transition over to their local FSSB so that while they’re on terminal leave they can get situated and get their assigned school. It would be perfect.
It can be the primary program offered to combat MOS and adjacent ones so they can easily begin their transition during their clearing and their TAPS appointments and all that good stuff.