Concord’s Police Chief Says Schools, Cops Work Closely on Safety

School safety is on the minds of everyone in the wake of the tragic elementary Connecticut school shooting incident.

John Duval, the chief of the Concord Police Department, said residents and parents can rest assured that police are as prepared as they can be for any type of school safety incident. He said the department has "outstanding relationships” with the Concord School District, Merrimack Valley School District, and private schools in the city. Duval said the department had “built those relationships over several decades."

Since Sept. 11, police had received a lot of “critical incident” training both geared towards terrorism and school safety. Duval said the department worked “closely with the schools when they test their plans” and participated in “ongoing training” to prepared for anything. The department, Duval noted, had school resource officers in both Concord and Merrimack Valley high schools.

Recently, Merrimack Valley High School and the police participated in a “full scale, active shooter” simulation at the school that involved law enforcement, school officials, the fire department, hospital and medical personnel, and others.

“It was as short of being real life as you can imagine,” Duval said.

The simulation was financed by grant funding due to overtime and staffing costs, Duval noted.

Less than two weeks ago, at least one Concord school, McAuliffe Elementary School, participated in two days of “lockdown procedures” training with students. According to a memo from Principal Kristine Gallo, administrators and teachers focused discussions of the lockdown procedures on why the school practiced drills and the importance of school safety. Gallo informed parents that the topic could be a difficult one for students and it was important for parents to follow up with them at home. The lockdown practice was held on Dec. 5, according to the memo.

Gallo noted that school officials will “always announce our lockdowns in advance” to parents because they didn’t want to “create any level of unrest” during the process of ensuring children’s safety.

Duval said that a part of the training was to focus on “early detection” in order to recognize “early signs of trouble and behavioral issues with students or people involved in the schools.” He said the schools often keep the department “in the loop” about potential problems, although there was no perfect system to preventing horrific incidents.

“Folks act out and commit horrific, criminal acts,” he said, adding that oftentimes, there is no eminent sign that the act is going to occur.

Duval noted that the Concord community was, unfortunately, not a stranger to school shooting tragedies although not on the level of other recent incidents across the nation.

On Dec. 3, 1985, Louis Cartier, 16, was shot and killed during a standoff with police at Concord High School. Cartier, who reportedly dropped out of school shortly before the shooting, brought a shotgun to the school and took two students hostage. After Cartier discharge his gun at an officer, another officer returned fired and killed Cartier, according to press reports at the time.