Following the May 24 massacre of an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, Spanish Fort Police Chief John Barber started hearing from the public.
The concerns ranged from parents worried that local police are not prepared to respond to a shooting to misinformation about the role of a school resource officer.
Barber, the Eastern Shore city’s chief since 2020, said he felt the timing was right to respond.
He will do so during a rare police chief town hall event that will be broadcast live from 6-7 p.m. Tuesday on WPMI-TV in Mobile. The event will take place at Spanish Fort City Hall.
“It’s the environment we live in now that we have to educate our parents,” said Barber. “I think these are tough conversations that need to happen in communities. Uvalde touched everyone.”
He added, “We’ve had a lot of questions. I hope those in attendance and those who might watch it will gain something out of it. I am hopeful my staff will get something out of it, too.”
Barber will spent approximately 15-20 minutes explaining how the city’s police department provides security for its schools, and what it is planning to do next year. His agency recently conducted a simulated active shooter scenario at Rockwell Elementary School.
Barber said a school resource officer – commonly called a SRO – will provide an overview of his or her job. An additional 30 minutes are set aside for a Q&A.
WPMI-TV’s Greg Peterson will be the moderator, said Barber.
Barber said the meeting is largely focused on to provide a law enforcement’s perspective “on addressing people’s worries” following the shooting in Uvalde that left 19 children and three adults dead, and 18 others injured, at Robb Elementary School.
Police in Uvalde have come under intense criticism for their handling of the school shooting. The criticism has mostly focused over the time that elapsed between when the shooting began to when police received orders and entered a classroom where the shooter was at.
“I’ve seen and heard from talking to parents that they are concerned about the response from Uvalde from law enforcement,” Barber said. “They’ve also seen from (the Department of Public Safety) colonel who called (the police response) and ‘abject failure’ to the maximum degree. That’s a strong statement. It will worry any parent to wonder about their local police department and that it doesn’t have the same failure as the one in Texas.”
He added, “It’s up to me to get out there to say it’s a top priority and we are looking at policy procedures and equipment and preparing ourselves for a day we hope never comes.”
Spanish Fort police work in conjunction with the Baldwin County Public School System on school security, including the placement of SROs at each of the school district’s schools.
In 2018, the Baldwin County School System voted to spend around $1.5 million to fund 16 nationally trained SROs and place them at the schools following that year’s mass shooting at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Barber heralded the county’s SRO program as being among the most “highly regarded” in the state because of its training requirements for officers who are stationed at each of the schools.
He said his agency has a good partnership with the school system – which is Alabama’s third-largest, with 45 campuses – as well as the principals and other administrators at the schools in Spanish Fort.
Superintendent Eddie Tyler, in a statement to AL.com Monday, said the partnership the schools have with the county’s municipal police agencies is “one-of-a-kind and unlike any other” in Alabama.
“We firmly believe that the children in the Baldwin County Public School System are safer than in any other school system in Alabama as a result of this endeavor,” Tyler said. “While we provide the funding, we are reliant upon these officers to keep our kids safe. We are very proud of the preparedness, certifications, training and exercises these men and women participate in throughout the year.”
Tyler said the school system appreciates Barber’s “dedication to our children’s and employees’ safety as well as his interest in making sure the community has the facts about this very important partnership.”
He said Barber’s meeting is being done to address what he said were social media rumors regarding SRO training, how long they are stationed at the schools and whether they are armed.
Barber, however, said that some parents and those watching on TV might not get all of the answers they seek.
“There will be some questions that might come up with our tactics and security measures at the school that I’m not going to answer,” Barber said. “I’ll be as honest and transparent as possible. But if there is sensitive information out there that compromises my officers, students and staff (I will not disclose it). As much as we can, we’ll try to give that reassurance that we make (school safety) a top priority.”
This story was updated at 5:30 p.m. on June 27, 2022, to include comments from Baldwin County School Superintendent Eddie Tyler.
