Stop Clowning Around
Killer Clowns are on the loose. If you haven’t heard, there is a higher frequency of "adults" dressed as clowns across the county. Many of these clowns intend to prank or scare teens and children. As a parent, and an expert in school security (specifically school lockdowns and active shooter events) I wanted to become more familiar with who these clowns are, what their intentions are, and what our response should be.
The motives of “caught-clowns” have panned out to be some part of a dark prank to scare children and teens. Many of these copy-clowns have no intentions of causing harm, but something has to be said of the psychological risk these pranks may have, intentionally or unintentionally. With Killer Clowns all over the news, I can’t imagine what my young sons would experience if they noticed a clown driving a car and slowly pulling up to their bus stop. The fact that a few of these clowns are up to no good “ought” to create enough common sense for others considering a clown prank. My position is if you are an adult, and have such poor judgement to scare kids with this tactic, knowing it is a national concern, you “ought” to be criminally charged.
None the less, in multiple cases of clowns reported to law enforcement, the clowns were carrying a fire-arm and in a single case, the “Clown” had a plan to initiate a major school shooting. With Halloween just around the corner, there is no better time to be prepared if parents, teachers or students (or anyone) should spot a conspicuous clown.
What You Should Know
- Be observant - the biggest tool to prevent tragedy is for everyone to be assertive. Pay attention to your surroundings and your environment. While this is not something that comes naturally, it can easily become a habit. Practice noticing the people around you throughout your day.
- If you see someone dressed as a “Clown”, do not engage them. It is very critical to educate your children and/or students they may naturally think of a clown as the fun balloon issuing character at their last birthday party, or a respected icon on TV, things have changed. Just as we instruct children to not talk to strangers, we must ensure our children understand not to engage a “Clown” in public.
- Call the Police! You may be unsure if you should call 911 just for seeing a clown, but with this current environment of “Killer Clowns”, if you see an adult dressed as a “Clown”, call 911 immediately. Better safe than sorry and you could, potentially, be preventing a tragedy.
Be proactive in your community regarding the vulnerability of students. Use local resources such as the PTO. Identify where children and students in the community are at most risk (typically where is there the least supervision from a responsible adult/parent). Work with these resources to create new solutions to add new layers of protections in these weaker areas (for example, a bus stop that has no supervision). Additionally, call or meet with your local Fire Chief and Law Enforcement Administration. Learn what their concerns are, what they recommend and how you can get involved.
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Justin M. Osburn is a door security expert and owns and operates SOS Systems, LLC. SOS Systems manufactures and sells a patent-protected, active-shooter industrial door security barricade called the Guardian Angel. It stops, slows and/or thwarts active shooters from breaching doors in a lockdown event. Need a speaker about school safety or want to learn how to protect your school or business using door barricades? Call Justin at 660.227.1123 or email him at [email protected]