In the wake of the Uvalde, Texas mass shooting tragedy on May 24, 2022, where a teenager fatally shot 19 students and 2 teachers, municipalities and school boards across the country are reviewing their procedures and emergency plans for responding to the serious threats posed by a potential active shooter scenario in a school within their own communities. The need to have such plans in place is of critical urgency, particularly as the horrific events in Uvalde, Texas have been followed by multiple other mass shootings occurring across the country. 

Accordingly, please place on the July 20, 2022 City Commission agenda to discuss and take action regarding the Miami Beach Police Department’s emergency operational plans and procedures, and overall readiness to respond to a potential active shooter situation or other emergency in a public or private school. Although I understand certain details of such plans must remain confidential, I request that the Administration and our Police and Fire Departments please be prepared to address their plans to the fullest extent it is possible to do so in a public forum, including whether any additional resources may be beneficial to their efforts.

In addition, as any event of this nature would necessarily involve other law enforcement agencies, such as the Miami-Dade County School Board Police Dept., I have contacted Miami-Dade Schools Police Chief Edwin Lopez and have invited him or a designee to attend our July 20 Commission meeting, to address the City’s mutual aid agreement with the School Board and other coordination efforts with the School Board, and whether there is any support the Miami-Dade Schools may need to achieve our shared goal of avoiding any similar tragedy in our own community.

If you have any questions about this item, please contact my legislative aide Robert Novo lll at RobertNovo@miamibeachfl.gov