[skibum]

Why did it go like it did? Training, I guess. At the time (I assume, I joined the dept two years after it happened) the prevailing thought was to treat it like a hostage-taking. Establish a perimeter and wait for SWAT.

I watched it on the news that day and couldn't belive what I was seeing. I couldn't understand why a bunch of cops weren't rushing the place to go kill the bad guys. I remember watching a SWAT stack advancing slowly behind a ballistic shield across a lawn to one of the doors. What were they thinking? That if they snuck up, someone looking out the window couldn't see them? That they were at less risk if they moved across that danger area slowly instesd of tactically?(of course, as a product of their training, that WAS tactical movement. To them)

There is quite a culture of denial here regarding Columbine, it's very difficult to get useful lessons learned. There's also the, "you weren't there, you can't point fingers," mentality. I gotta call BS on that -- Everybody else seems to have learned something from our mistakes. I mean, we don't run football practice on blazing September days while denying our athletes water anymore (when I was in grade school a HS athlete died of dehydration/heat stroke because the coach thought you had to practice without water to get tough).

Yes, there was talk of implementing a CQB program for all deputies about two years ago, the same time frame that we were trying to get on board with "this Homeland Security thing." One of the training deputies, a former Recon guy has been pounding his head against a wall to try getting it started. He has met resistance from all levels of command (except maybe the Sheriff and UnderSheriff). I fire off memos and am told I don't know what I am talking about on a fairly regular basis. The struggle goes on...