How Evanston police, schools are responding to DOJ report on Uvalde

The Evanston Police Department, Evanston Fire Department and District 65 schools report they are in compliance with recommendations issued by the Department of Justice for responding to an active shooter situation.

The police department, which likely would be a first responder in any active shooter situation in Evanston, follows the DOJ recommendations as written or at least in practice, meaning EPD is “achieving the goals of the recommendation even if not following the DOJ guidance point for point,” according to Cmdr. Ryan Glew, head of the department’s media team.

“We are in the process of having more of our staff trained in Incident Command Systems and incorporating it into our culture and how we evaluate all larger events,” Glew said.

The DOJ’s “Critical Incident Review,” published in January, examined the course of events that led to the shooting deaths of 19 elementary school students and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas, in May 2022. It also issued recommendations for preventing another such tragedy.

In Uvalde, there was a 77-minute delay between when the first law enforcement officer arrived at the school and when U.S. Border Patrol agents on site finally entered the classroom and killed the shooter.

Of the DOJ’s 42 recommendations, 35 apply specifically to police departments, while the other seven relate to school administrators, elected officials or multiple departments.

Following the report’s release in January, the RoundTable contacted city and school leaders as well as the Suburban Law Enforcement Academy to determine whether and how they follow specific DOJ guidelines.

Evanston schools

The RoundTable asked Districts 65 and 202 if they followed the three recommendations that apply explicitly to school districts:

• Upgrade or replace all doors and/or locks throughout their buildings to ensure doors can be locked from inside.
• Implement and locate universal access boxes, a locked box that contains master keys near the entry points of school buildings that can be accessed by authorized emergency first responders and school district staff.
• Ensure that emergency alert systems are well-understood by all staff.

District 65

At District 65, which includes 17 elementary and middle schools in Evanston and Skokie, plus the Joseph E. Hill Early Childhood Center, “safety practices are in alignment with the recommendations provided in the Department of Justice’s report on the tragedy in Uvalde, Texas,” according to spokesperson Hannah Dillow.

“Terrance Little, Assistant Superintendent of Safety, Operations, and Athletics, and his team work closely with the Evanston and Skokie police and fire departments to put procedures and practices in place that best fits the needs of the municipality and its first responders and to best support our schools,” Dillow said in a statement. “We will continue to evolve our practices as new recommendations emerge.”

Evanston Township High School

District 202, which consists of Evanston Township High School, responded in an email after the RoundTable reached out to Loyce Spells, the school’s director of safety and a former EPD detective. Spells referred the matter to a district spokesperson, who wrote back that “District 202 remains committed to implementing multi-faceted and evidenced-based security and safety measures as outlined in the DOJ report. We will not be providing further comment at this time.”

District 202 did not respond to multiple followup attempts by the RoundTable via emails to spell out what that statement means and get additional information. However, its web page says that “A Crisis Response Plan (CRP) has been developed to help respond to a variety of critical incidents involving ETHS, to maximize the safety and wellbeing of students, staff, and visitors, and to minimize the potential impact on the school community.”

As reported by the RoundTable last year, in February 2023, the ETHS board passed an amendment (to an existing agreement) between ETHS and the city that would only allow the police chief, or someone designated by the police chief, to view security footage “when viewing is necessary for the City Police Department to deter or protect against an imminent and substantial threat that is likely to result in significant bodily harm or damage to School property.” Evanston City Council approved its side of the amendment in January 2023.

EFD and NUPD

Kim Kull, a division chief with the Evanston Fire Department, confirmed that EFD is in compliance with the DOJ recommendation regarding multi-agency coordination.

Two recommendations also apply to Northwestern University’s private police force. Bruce Lewis, NU’s chief of police and senior associate vice president of safety and security, did not respond to the RoundTable’s questions.

“NUPD and EPD’s approach to jointly handling large-scale events is largely compliant with the goals of the recommendations,” Glew said in an email.

Glew added that EPD’s legal agreement with NU over joint jurisdiction and shared responsibilities does not address critical incidents and will be reviewed and updated to reflect current practices.

Suburban Law Enforcement Academy

Another DOJ recommendation applies to police training academies. The Suburban Law Enforcement Academy (SLEA) in Glen Ellyn, part of the College of DuPage, is where EPD sends its new officers. SLEA certifies new officers according to criteria set up by the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board.

SLEA Director James Volpe confirmed that the course module on dealing with active shooters emphasizes the differences between an active shooter and a barricaded shooter, and prioritizes entry by law enforcement in the former situation.

With an active shooter intent on killing and injuring innocent people, speed is critical in the police response. With a barricaded shooter who is not holding hostages and only risks self-harm, speed is less critical, and police can afford to wait the situation out.

Training is key for police

“The first priority is to stop the attack. Preparation is more than just physical action. It’s getting the command staff to understand their roles. Same for supporting partners, fire departments, and individual officers that have to respond,” Sgt. Ervin DeLeon, a 26-year EPD veteran and head of training, said. “It’s building up all the skill sets necessary prior to the incident, to make sure that various parts of the community are safe.”

Sgt. Brian Rust, part of EPD’s community policing unit and a trainer for emergency response said, described Evanston as being “ahead of the curve” when it comes to reacting properly to an active shooter.

“We’ve been at the forefront of what we do with critical incident response capacity,” Rust said. “With the exception of some of our newer officers, every officer in the building is prepared to act consistently with guidelines set forth by the DOJ.”

“And that would be to respond as quickly as possible to contain or stop a threat,” Glew added.

Glew, DeLeon and Rust all emphasized that EPD training, including interdepartmental tabletop exercises with EFD, the city and other organizations, calls on officers to step up and provide leadership at the scene if they are the first ones there.

“Every officer, every part of the response, should know their critical roll even if it’s not the first one inside,” DeLeon said “… we hold command training and retraining to review this. It is very vital to coordinate all the responses. There is really a very clear role for every officer. But they also need the mental training, to have the psychological responses to act appropriately.”

Historical changes in police response

Glew pointed out that the DOJ report is far from the first such revisions to police response plans. Much of the current police department response is based on lessons learned from the Columbine High School shooting in 1999 in Colorado, plus ALICE training. ALICE is an acronym for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate, which District 65 follows. District 202, on the other hand, trains students according to a “Run, Hide, Fight” policy, which is detailed on the ETHS Emergency Response Information website.

In a meeting with the RoundTable at EPD headquarters, Glew, Rust and DeLeon elaborated on EPD’s current shooting incident training and policy. “The threat stops when the offender is isolated and no longer harming others, or because the police have used the necessary force to stop the threat,” Glew said.

Importance of independent thinkers

“It comes to critical thought or critical thinking in a highly stressful situation that’s changing, not minute by minute, but second by second,” said Rust. “So what we train our officers to do, regardless of rank, is to be independent thinkers during a rapidly evolving critical incident.”

Referring to a shooter or shooters, Rust said, “The goal is for them to stop whatever it is they are doing. We want to to de-escalate the situation without having to use force. As a rapid deployment instructor within the police department, I hope that just by seeing my uniform and talking with us, we can convince them to stop their behavior.”

Glew pointed out that the goal is not simply to kill a shooter. “We’d be negligent in creating a narrative that our job is to go in and kill the offender. That’s not a win for us. The win is if we respond quickly, save as many lives as possible in whatever building we’re operating in, and we stop the threat. What does ‘stop the threat’ mean? If our presence caused the offender to drop the gun and surrender, or if they’re not obeying our commands and if our attempts at de-escalation are unsuccessful, we’re prepared and trained to do what we have to do to save lives. I think defining that is really important. It’s not to go in and kill people.”

The City of Evanston uses the EvanstonAlerts emergency notification system to alert residents about imminent threats to their safety. Registrants sign up for texts regarding emergency notifications, school lockdowns and unusual police activity. You can sign up for alerts here.