The City of Uvalde said in a statement on Thursday that it has already implemented some of the changes mentioned in a recent Justice Department report that critically evaluated police response to the 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting.
"Specifically, UPD has enhanced police officers’ capabilities by obtaining new equipment,” the statement explained. This equipment includes rifle-rated armor, telecommunication upgrades and advanced door breaching tools.
The city also said that law enforcement has undergone a combined 1,699 hours of training since May 2022. This includes active shooter training, Solo Officer Rapid Deployment (SORD) training and crisis intervention training.
The Uvalde Police Department has also added or improved more than a dozen training programs with local entities, the statement explained.
These new changes were suggested in the DOJ report which has 273 recommendations on how to respond to an active shooter situation.
The DOJ report stated that the Uvalde law enforcement failed when they treated the active shooter like a barricaded situation, and they prioritized the school’s evacuation over eliminating the shooter. This led victims in Rooms 111 and 112 to spend a prolonged time with the threat.
Active shooter training teaches law enforcement officers that they must continuously seek to eliminate the threat of an active shooter with any equipment they have. It also states that they should be able to accomplish this with a standard firearm. On the day of the shooting, officers waited for more equipment to arrive and said that they were scared of the gunman’s weapon.
The DOJ report also stated that there was a lack of coordination and incident command between local enforcement entities, and telecommunications were poor and misinformed.
The city's statement added that the Justice Department is committed to providing law enforcement with additional training.
