Barnegat, NJ – Barnegat Township Police Chief Keith A. Germain issued a heartfelt statement to school district parents in the wake of the deadly mass shooting at an elementary school in Texas this week. Germain wanted to reassure parents that his department is remaining vigilant and that the district and the department’s security procedures ensure the safety of students in the district.
“As you’re getting after the grind again this morning and the kids are getting ready for school, the events of Uvalde, Texas probably aren’t far from your mind,” Chief Germain said. “You send your kids off to school with the hope and belief that they’re going to be safe and come back to you the way you sent them out the door.”
Germain noted that security levels at the school are always high and on alert and this week is no different.
“Of course, we’ll be there at the school today when your child arrives. We’ll be walking through the schools at random times throughout the day, and we’ll be there at dismissal. But what we want you to know is that these aren’t things we just do today, or for a few days, or for the month,” Germain said. “They are things we do every day, at every school. We have for years, and we will continue to until society evolves beyond where we find ourselves today.”
His open letter continues:
We work to maintain the hard-earned trust of both you, your kids, and our school district, so that the warning signs that are so common before a violent incident are communicated, prioritized, and investigated.
We work with law enforcement partners at the local, county, state, and federal level to make sure we’re leveraging every available resource.
Our cops are among the best trained in the business. You’d be hard-pressed to find a police department with more hours of training or more days on the range than ours.
And while our officers are incredibly good at de-escalation and resolving dangerous situations with the least amount of force possible, they train relentlessly to sharpen and maintain the skills they need to quickly and decisively end any imminent threat to our kids.
As a parent, I know the worry of sending them out the door. But as a student of the pre-Columbine era, I can’t begin to imagine the worry and anxiety that our kids feel today.
We’ll do everything we can to help alleviate that by continuing to be present, visible, and vigilant.
by Barnegat Township Police Chief Keith A. Germain