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Palm Beach County Begins School Security Protocol to Protect Students and Staff in Emergency Situations

The Active Shooter Hostage Event Response, or A.S.H.E.R., Agreement allows collaboration between law enforcement and fire agencies within Palm Beach County to draft their assigned roles during a school security incident, before it occurs.

This announcement came Friday during a news conference led by School Police Chief Frank Kitzerow, noting this is the “first of its kind” in Florida. This Agreement is proposed as a way to protect both students and staff during any potential active school shooter situation.

“It will undoubtedly save lives,” Kitzerow said. “It minimizes risk and maximizes safety for everyone involved, especially our first responders.”

Kitzerow continued explaining the preassigned responsibilities for each team will limit the amount of “chaos” during these events.

“We work ahead of time to mitigate those things so that we are spending out time more efficiently, more accurately, and directing our attention where it needs to go,” Kitzerow said.

WFLX reports that all 179 schools within Palm Beach County’s School District will now have one school police officer there.

“This is very important because, prior to this year, we needed the assistance of all the chiefs of police, their teams, the sheriff’s office,” Superintendent Dr. Donald Fennoy noted to WFLX. “Everyone pitched in to make sure every school in Palm Beach County was covered.”

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