Managing the INCIDENT

Concerns to be Addressed

     In the next few hours, those at the command post would be required to address a myriad of concerns, including bombs, hostages, snipers, multiple shooters, fire, odors of natural gas, the media, air and ground traffic, evacuations within the school and the neighborhoods, alarms, suspects, suspects’ homes and vehicles, other potential sites, witness interviews, organization of responding agencies, injured victims, fleeing students and frantic parents.

     Information was coming into the command post from various sources – each jurisdiction was listening to its own officers or communications centers and sharing that information with the others.

     Hy remained in his patrol vehicle on Pierce Street near the developing command post.  With him sat a Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputy taking notes and writing down the significant radio traffic.

     Hy was trying to supply Walcher and others at the command post with updated information on what was occurring at the high school and who the suspects might be. Reports from students and staff who had escaped, and even from some on cell phones still inside the school, mentioned up to eight gunmen in paramilitary gear, armed with grenades and automatic weapons.  From those descriptions, the command staff and many of the first responders thought the situation sounded like they might be confronting some type of terrorist unit.

Setting Up Perimeters

     Those at the command post realized the necessity of setting up perimeters around the 250,000 square-foot school. In an incident such as the one unfolding at Columbine, the fear was that the suspects would escape and move into the larger surrounding community, escalating the situation into an even worse scenario.  Perimeters are a type of law enforcement strategy that helps contain the suspects and prevents them from fleeing a site, getting through the police lines and creating havoc in adjoining neighborhoods or businesses.

     Containment was a major concern for the command post.  Columbine is a large school of 1,945 students, a majority of whom were fleeing the building through one of the school’s 25 exits and entrances.  The suspects easily could escape as well by blending in with the students or staff coming out. The school needed to be sealed off as protection for the children and the surrounding neighborhoods, schools and businesses.

     With the help of so many jurisdictions that responded to the call for mutual aid, a strong inner perimeter was set up quickly. The first pieces of the perimeter were in place by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputies responding to the scene. By 11:30 a.m., within four minutes of the school resource officer’s reports of shots being fired in the building and the need for help, six Jefferson County Sheriff’s Deputies were on scene and in position, covering the school exits on the south, west and east sides.  By 11:50 a.m., two more Jefferson County Sheriff’s officers were on the north side.  The command post, using both Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputies and Denver police, strengthened that inner perimeter.

     The first perimeter was set up as close as possible around the school, providing containment but also keeping other people from getting too near the school.  A second perimeter went in around the first, reinforcing the primary circle of containment.

     Capt. Armstrong of the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office quickly coordinated setting up the outer perimeter of law enforcement personnel, directing the Denver Police Department and the Colorado State Patrol to form that external perimeter along Bowles on the north, Coal Mine and Polk on the south, Leawood and Pierce to the east and Wadsworth on the west. That outer perimeter provided a buffer for the inner perimeter, preventing any suspects from escaping the general vicinity, keeping better control of traffic coming into the area, providing greater security for the command post, providing a safe area for the media, and coordinating and assisting with parents responding to the site.