Violence at School and in the Workplace

In my last mailing to my networking list, I wrote about the killings at Virginia Tech and included a note that in 1988 at ESL in Sunnyvale, Richard Wade Farley had stalked a female engineer and when rejected, came in to work and killed seven people and injured four others.

I included tips about what to do in such an emergency, and I did hear from some readers.

First – to review the tips:

Ronn Owens on KGO radio and had an FBI profiler on the show. She talked about this kind of person and what you can do in case of emergency. I’d like to share her tips and those of some callers. Some tips I knew and some I didn’t.

1. Have a plan for emergencies and practice it. Have your kids practice and hold regular drills. Practice at work so that all know what to do.
2. If you need to barricade yourself in an office, move whatever you can against the door and don’t stand near the door – the shooter may try to shoot through it.
3. Tap Plastic sells fiberglass that is very sturdy and can actually be used as a clipboard. You can bring it into a meeting and it would not look out of place, but if you are handling a contentious or dangerous event or person at work, you might bring this with you. This plastic can actually protect you against a bullet.
4. If someone is shooting at you and you are running, run in a zigzag manner (not in a straight line). {I didn’t know about this but my husband did because he watches old war movies.}

We can all debate about gun control or how to identify a dangerous person from an annoying or weird one. Many of us in HR are in the position of dealing with difficult employee relations issues that can escalate into violence. We should all be alert, aware of our surroundings, practice escape plans, and hope for the best. As I said before, it’s rare but it does happen. There is an article about workplace violence at http://faculty.ncwc.edu/TOConnor/300/300lect07.htm

Next, to the emails.

With her permission - Gwyneth Anne Freedman wrote: “I was at ESL when Farley went on his 'fatal attraction' shooting spree. One interesting tip from that experience, some people climbed up into the ceiling. The ceiling had those cardboard type tiles that pop out, and some people had the where-with-all to think about climbing up into the ceiling (putting the tiles back in place again)to be out of view, and hopefully out of harms way. It worked for them. While it may not always be practical, or comfortable, it does offer another alternative based on the situation and environment.”

I can’t begin to imagine what it was like at ESL that day.

I also heard from a few people regarding gun control, some took me to task for not using the opportunity to talk about it.

Here is my response:

Part of my childhood was in rural North Carolina and at that time, in that place, there were a lot of farmers. Most people bought food from the store, too, but many raised their own and when they wanted meat, they took their guns. (Not my family, though.) The only accident I ever heard about was one of the boys down the street playing around and he shot his own leg.

There are still parts of this country where there are hunters who bring home their meat in this way. I could never ever do that.

There are also some parts of this country where if you called police in an emergency, no one would get there on time. They have guns to protect themselves. A very distant relative, a 16 year old girl, was at home alone when she heard men break in. She grabbed the gun and hid, scared, shaking, and praying for safety. Thanks goodness they did not find her as who knows what would have happened.

You might think from reading this that I am pro-guns, but I am not. I think most people in the States have no reason to have a gun. There is absolutely no reason in the world to have semi-automatics on the street: no one hunts anything but people with those.

After Columbine there was a Million Mom March and a lot of people were talking about gun control, Michael Moore made the documentary "Bowling for Columbine". And nothing happened. The horrible thing is that Lobbyists are running the show and the President will do NOTHING to stop this madness. People will have to reach their own conclusions as I did many years ago.

So we have the gun issue and then we have mental health and the fact that we can't keep dangerous people locked up on the speculation of what they might do. The murderer at the college had actually been confined for mental health reasons but they had to let him go. I don't know what the answer is, but handling a mentally ill and dangerous person the way they had to under the law is not correct.

And then we have an extremely violent society. No joke: I am very worried about the direction of our society in a lot of ways and the violence we are seeing is one portion of the worry.

At election time I remind people to vote and ask all candidates for local, state and federal offices important questions. Flag burning is a distraction, not an issue. We have a complicated world with a lot of difficult issues and don't need sound bites. Our top officials get into office after serving on local commissions and such, so we need to pay attention from the local level up.

I will be reminding people about this in the future, rest assured. I realize I'm in a position to express some ideas and hope people come to the same thoughts I have.