Katherine Schweit, a retired FBI agent who created the agency's active shooter protocols on Monday ripped police in Uvalde, Texas for apparently failing to follow the procedures they were trained to enact.
Writing in the New York Times, Schweit says it's clear now that police in Uvalde did not follow the protocols she developed that recommended quick action to take down active shooters.
In particular, she singles out the "the 78 minutes that the police in Uvalde waited before confronting the gunman at Robb Elementary," and then asks, "Why did the police leadership make that call?"
While Schweit doesn't have a direct answer to that question, she does note that the police can't say they didn't receive proper guidance for how to handle these situations.
IN OTHER NEWS: House Jan 6th hearings looking to be more devastating to Trump than his impeachments: columnist
"In the past two years, the Uvalde school district has hosted at least two active shooter trainings, according to reporting by The Times," she writes. "One of them was two months ago. Current protocol and best practices say officers must persistently pursue efforts to neutralize a shooter when a shooting is underway. This is true even if only one officer is present."
The bottom line, she argues, is that "police department leaders need to tell their officers today what is expected of them and to understand that Americans demand it."
