City of Salida to Perform School Incident Assessment, Releases Incident Command Report

Posted By: Dan R October 11, 2021

The City of Salida will be performing an assessment of its current policies and procedures related to school lockouts/lockdowns following an incident at Salida High School that occurred on September 23rd.

An independent third-party analysis of internal responses, including communication procedures, incident command structure, and standard response practices will be performed at the request of the Mayor and City Council.

At the City Council’s regular meeting on October 5, Mayor P.T. Wood stated, “Anytime that something doesn’t go exactly the way that you might like, we need to look at ourselves first. It starts with me and the Council – did we provide the right resources, are we providing the right training, are we giving the right direction? We need to reflect on ourselves before we start reflecting on anything else.”

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The City has engaged Investigative Law Group (“ILG”) of Denver, Colorado, to assess the City’s coordinated response. ILG, founded in 1995, provides sophisticated response solutions to complex workplace issues as well as swift and impartial reviews. ILG will first gather all relevant information, including dispatch calls, lockout/lockdown procedures, and recorded communications. ILG will then assist in evaluating whether actions were taken within the standard response protocols established between the City of Salida and Salida Public Schools, and if not, where and how actions may not have followed protocol. It is anticipated that this assessment will take between three and five weeks to complete.

On October 5, Mayor Pro Tem Dan Shore commented, “I think there are lessons we can all learn. We just need to sit down, communicate, and think about how we move forward and how to rebuild trust, and just be so grateful once again that no one was hurt.” The City of Salida is committed to transparency about the response to the incident.

We look forward to providing this neutral and independent assessment of the situation without interference in the review. As City Administrator Drew Nelson said, “Before being able to speak about relationships, we need to be sure that procedures were followed so that if there was a communication breakdown, we need to identify it and be held accountable for it.”

The community’s safety is our top priority and trust in the City organization is very important to us. The Mayor and City Council continue to appreciate the hard work that our officers and staff put in each day for Salidans.

Click here to read the Salida Police Department’s report from the on-scene incident commander that details the actions taken and reasons why certain decisions were made by law enforcement on September 23.

The City hopes that this report will help answer some questions we have received from members of our community.

Dan R
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