Day in the Life – “Fights Part 2”

I was asked for additional details on what a high school security should do when a fight occurs or is about to start. I know that in my last blog post I pretty wrote about my first year and the first two fights I stepped into to break up.

Training for this area is not overly extensive. At first, I got some initial pointers on what you can and should do. As I mentioned in my last blog post, I wrote that I was not overly happy with how things went down and went into the office to review the video of the situation. I asked my security lead, “what I could have done better?” He discussed the complete review of what happened, the good that I did and the potential areas that I could do better. Simply put, every fight that happens is not the same as the last one, but if I focus on a few key items, I can do the best possible (to keep everyone safe and end the situation as quickly and effectively as possible).

Key points:

1. Assess which combatant is the aggressor or potential has the upper hand in the fight. This has to be done as soon as you enter the circle. It has to be quick! That should be the focus of the first security person on scene. Separating/stopping that student will deescalate the fight quicker.
2. In this day and age, every student will tell you to keep your hands off of them. Well, that will not happen during a fight. I was trained to restraint the arms and walk the student away from the fight. Most of the team it is simply grabbing the wrists and just using your voice and force to move the student in the opposite direction.
3. Start talking to them and attempt to calm the student down. I usually identify to the student that this is Steve. If I know the student by name, I address them by their name. I try to get them to focus on me. Hopefully, this will calm down or at the very least distract from the fight.
4. We would walk around for a moment or two, until I felt that the student has calm down quite a bit. I would normally just let them catch their breathe. Anything to get the heart rate down!
5. The rules of the school usually dictate the next steps:
   1. Take students separately to the nurse’s office or the conference room in the administrative wing.
   2. Once each student is done – they are off to visit with the administrator. The administrators would investigate and work together follow through with the punishment.
   3. Security would go back to the cameras to get any additional video footage of the fight (if in public areas). This would be saved and provided to the administrators.

What I have learned and passed down to new high school security guards. Is much of the above and some additional items that I really thing are important.

1. When security is out and about in the hallways, outside, cafeteria or working events. We must be walking around and listening! Too many times I have seen security folks find a perch to observe but stand there the whole time. The perch is good for a short time, security needs to walk around. Listening is key! Watching for changes in behavior is key!
2. When walking around you can see when a student is posturing up. You can hear when the tone or discussion is different or getting aggressive. At the very least, you are closer to the action.
   1. I have rolled up on a number of the above-mentioned actions. Every time I was able to cut off anything from happening. Standing right in the middle of it, usually gets someone to stand down.
   2. I would have one of the students come with me and leave the area. I would normally take the less aggressive student, because they did not rush in to fight. It is easier to have a decent conversation with this student. I would get some details and pass this onto the administrators to address with the students. Rarely did we have a follow up, as each student was talked to and be put on notice that no further action better happen.
   3. I would share the information with the security team to let them know that we need to watch those students a bit closer when they are in our area for a few days.

There is nothing perfect when it comes to fighting in schools. It will happen. All we can do is our best to prevent it. If it does happen, we need to act and ensure that we are doing our best to keep everyone safe. End it swiftly and get back to normal as quick as possible.