Meet our SROS

Adam Brown

Adam Brown is one of three school resource officers in Widefield School District 3. Brown has been in law enforcement for a total of 15 years. He served in the U.S. Army as a military police officer for seven years and a canine officer for five of those years. Deciding to take a different path, Brown started with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office in 2014. He worked as a patrol officer before coming to WSD3.

Michel Perkins

Michel Perkins is a SRO at Widefield High School. Perkins is a District 3 alum who attended King Elementary, Janitell Junior High, and graduated from Widefield High School. He served 20 years in the U.S. Army before joining the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office in 2010. Perkins worked in patrol from 2012 to 2018 before starting with the district. 

Steven Paddack

Steven Paddack is a SRO at Mesa Ridge High School and is also a District 3 alum. Paddack attended Pinello Elementary, Sproul Junior High, and graduated from Widefield High School. He has been working in law enforcement for fifteen years. Paddack worked as an Arrest Control Instructor, patrol officer, and is currently a Cadet Advisor with the El Paso County Sheriff's Office. 

RAPTOR Visitor Management System

Widefield School District 3 is adding another layer of security to our current building-entry procedure. All of our schools will now be using the Raptor Visitor Management System. Part of keeping students and staff safe is knowing who is in our buildings at all times, and the Raptor system allows us to do that. The Raptor system will better allow us to screen visitors, contractors, and volunteers in our shools and provide us with a safer environment for our students and staff.  

 

What is the RAPTOR system?

RAPTOR is a visitor registration system that enhances school security by reading visitor drivers' licenses, comparing the information to a sex offender database, alerting school administrators if a match is found, then (if no match is found) printing a visitor badge that includes a photo.

How does it work?

Drivers' license information is compared to a data base that consists of registered sex offenders from all 50 states, including Colorado. If a match is found, school administrators and law enforcement personnel are notified immediately and will take appropriate steps to keep the school safe.

Why is Widefield School District using this system?

Safety of students is the district's highest priority. One of the most flawed security measures in schools is the handwritten log for school visitors. Many indiviDuals visiting the school write their name illegibly or write a different name. Even with an accurate written name, the school knows nothing about the visitor or if they should be allowed in the school.

What other information is the school taking from drivers' licenses?

RAPTOR is only scanning the visitor's name, date of birth, partial license number, and photo for comparison with a national database of registered sex offenders. Additional visitor data will not be gathered and no data will be shared with any outside company or organization.

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• El Paso County Sheriff's Office
• Fountain Police Department
• Safe2Tell
• Colorado School Safety Resource
• National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
• Missing Children for Colorado
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
• Safe Communities - Safe Schools
• Bullying Awareness and Prevention
• Stop Bullying Now Campaign
• IACP School Violence Prevention & Response
• Substance Abuse in College
• Suicide Prevention in College
   
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Safe2Tell® provides YOUNG people a way to report any threatening behaviors or activities endangering themselves or someone they know, in a way that keeps them safe and anonymous.

Safe2Tell® is a state-funded strategic initiative of the Colorado Department of Law, Office of the Attorney General.

The strategy focuses on Colorado children and youth and the issues they face today. The model was based on the Columbine Commission Report’s recommendation that students need a safe and anonymous way to keep lines of communication open. They realized that tragedies could be prevented if young people had a way to tell someone what they knew without fearing retaliation.

The anonymity of all Safe2Tell reports is protected by C.R.S. 07-197. This means the reporting party remains unknown by Colorado state law.

To submit an anonymous tip to Safe2Tell® call:

1-877-542-7233 or report safely here.

Anytime, day or night. 365 days a year.

If this is an emergency, call 911.

 

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The Safety and Security Department understands that if an emergency occurs at school or an office, there is usually not much time to warn students, employees and guest about what is happening or what to do. That is why the Widefield School District 3 has implemented the Standard Response Protocol v2.x (SRP-Extended) at all of its facilities.

Standard Response Protocol is not based on individual scenarios, but rather on the response to any given scenario. SRP demands a specific vocabulary, but also allows for great flexibility. The premise is simple - there are four specific actions that can be performed during an incident.

Lockout is followed by the Directive: "Secure the Perimeter" and is the protocol used to safeguard students and staff within a building.

Lockdown is followed by "Locks, Lights, Out of Sight" and is the protocol used to secure individual rooms and keep students quiet and in place.

Evacuate is always followed by a location, and is used to move students and staff from one location to a different location in or out of the building.

Shelter is always followed by a type and a method and is the protocol for group and self protection. These specific actions can act as both a verb and a noun.

Hold! In Your Classroom is an action that may be used when building hallways need to be cleared of students. Although not a universal action of SRP v2, schools may use this additional action as part of SRP - Extended (SRP-X).

EXAMPLE: If the action is "Lockdown", it would be announced on public address as "Lockdown! Locks, Lights, Out of Sight." All actions are to be repeated twice. Communication to local Law Enforcement Agency would be "We are under Lockdown."

In addition, each response has very specific student and staff action. The Evacuate response is always followed by a location: "Evacuate to the Bus Zone." Responses can also be chained. " Evacuate to Hallway. Shelter for Tornado. Drop, Cover and Hold."

The SRP is now in place in literally thousands of schools around the country and over the last year or two is becoming the standard in school safety training.

For more information visit the I Love U Guys Foundation Website.

 

Introduction to the Incident Command System for Schools

IS-100.SCA  Course Overview

The Emergency Management Institute developed the Introduction to ICS for Schools (IS-100.SCa for Schools) course in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Education.  The course is designed primarily for kindergarten through high school personnel.
The overall course goal is to promote school safety by:

1. Familiarizing you with how ICS principles can be applied in school-based incidents.
2. Preparing you to interface with community response personnel

Primary Audience

The primary audience includes kindergarten through high school personnel.

Prerequisites

N/A. However, completion of IS 700, National Incident Management System (NIMS), An Introduction is recommended.

Multi-Hazard Emergency Planning for Schools

Course Overview

This course covers basic information about developing, implementing, and maintaining a school emergency operations plan (EOP). The goal of this course is to provide students with an understanding of the importance of schools having an EOP and basic information on how an EOP is developed, exercised, and maintained. The topics addressed in this course include:

• Understanding incident management.
• Forming the planning team.
• Understanding the situation.
• Developing a school emergency operations plan.
• Incorporating the Incident Command System principles and roles in the school emergency operations plan.
• Training, exercising, and maintaining the school emergency operations plan.

Primary Audience
This course is designed for teachers, substitute teachers, counselors, parent volunteers, coaches, bus drivers, and students. However, anyone with a personal or professional interest in school preparedness is welcome to participate. School administrators, principals, and first responders alike will find useful information in this course.

Prerequisites
None
Visit the FEMA website and course details.

COLORADO FEMA

OPERATIONAL REVIEW

The Widefield School District 3 Safety & Security Department monitors and maintains the security systems. This includes the access control, closed circuit television systems (CCTV) and various intruder detection systems. The security components are fully integrated at each school. All of the schools’ systems comprise a seamless, districtwide networked security management system.

The most visible security equipment at the schools is the proximity card readers at designated entrances and the security cameras on the exterior of the building. Proximity card readers provide accountability for who is coming into the building. CCTV cameras are a useful crime deterrent, and, by working in conjunction with the access controls system, the cameras provide accountability for access during both regular business hours and outside of business hours (nights and weekends). The cameras also provide surveillance of the school grounds.

In addition to providing detection of unauthorized entries into the schools, the security system addresses key control, vandalism, and emergency planning issues. This provides Widefield School District with documentation on who accesses the schools and when they are accessed. Exterior cameras and detection devices provide prevention, notification, and documentation of vandal-related incidents. The security system also helps in planning and preparing for emergencies by allowing the school to be locked down from the school's main office or from the Widefield School District security office, and it provides camera views of the exterior during a lockdown situation.

SAFETY & SECURITY HIGHEST PRIORITY

1. Please know that the safety of the students in our care is of the utmost importance. While it is impossible to guarantee that dangerous situations will never happen in and around our schools, we take far-reaching preventive measures. The most important thing we can do is be aware of who is in and around our schools.

2. It has been standard practice to require visitors to check in at the main office and receive a visitor’s badge. We are asking all school personnel to make sure this is a priority.

3. We stress to employees the importance of stopping individuals they do not know. Students, especially older ones, are asked to report any unidentified individuals to a teacher or other school official right away.

4. We are also taking extra care to keep non-essential doors locked. Our high schools have multiple entrances, but we are restricting access at each high school.

5. You as parents and neighbors of our schools can be very helpful by being aware of what is going on in and around the building and reporting unusual activity.

6. Local law enforcement and district security officials are increasing their presence around our schools.

7. Our district security system is currently one of the most advanced systems used.

8. We work closely with local law enforcement through the preparation of and drilling for various emergency responses and through our school resource officers to help keep our schools safe learning environments for our students.

EMERGENCY PLANNING

• All schools have implemented National Incident Command System within their emergency response teams.

• All Widefield School District Schools are equipped with automated external defibrillators. Each school has CPR, First Aid, and AED trained staff members assigned to the Incident Command Teams.

• Widefield School District has full radio communication interoperability with all area first responders.

• Continue to meet with emergency responders.

• School-level emergency response plans will be revised/updated when necessary to be consistent with the National Incident Command System.

• Widefield School District allows first responders to train regularly in our schools preparing for emergencies.

• Emergency Procedures Handbook has been printed in an easy-to-read, flip chart format and distributed.

• The El Paso County Sheriff, Security/ Fountain Fire Departments, and other emergency responders have been given the district’s "Emergency Management Plan" and complete virtual floor plans of all district buildings. Plans are updated every semester.

• Security and emergency planning improvements are budgeted for annually.

• Widefield School District will continue to update, evolve, and improve as needed.